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Scottish Guidance Mk1 (2001)
Home educators in Scotland have reacted angrily to the Scottish Executive's attack on educational freedom in the form of 'draft guidance' to local authorities which condones the breaching of human rights and data protection legislation and promises backing to the very bullies such guidance was designed to curb. It is intolerable that such a document should have made it out from a government department claiming consultation with home education organisations when their views were completely ignored; and since it is unlikely these views will have any impact on the final document, a detailed response seems hardly worth the ink - though don't worry, we wouldn't miss another opportunity to point out all of its many flaws! Irene McGugan MSP has already lodged a Parliamentary Motion* calling for the draft document's withdrawal, and other MSPs have promised their support having recognised a stitch-up when they see one. A protest march and rally has been organised by a group of home educators for 7 February, and MSPs will also be asked to show their support there. We would really like to know what became of the long-awaited Scottish Parliament of which some of us had such high hopes. Home educators' reactions were swift and unanimous, despite the Executive's attempts to hide the document on their website and make it as difficult as possible for people to download when they did locate it. Issuing it on Christmas Eve was pretty underhand, almost as underhand as suggesting home education organisations colluded in its content. Until they received complaints, there was no indication on the website of how and where to respond to the draft document, or even that it was for consultation, and comments by the Executive since its release sum up their attitude to those who would dare reject their schools in favour of education: they would prefer all children to be in state schools, but have to grudgingly respect the right of a small minority group to home educate. They seem to have forgotten the basics, however, in that it is parents who are responsible for ensuring their children are educated and that schools have no such duty - they just have to be there for parents to delegate to. Much was made of the new Standards in Scotland's Schools Act which promised children the right to an education provided by the state which should be directed to their individual talents and fulfil their potential, but let's not get excited about that because education authorities can still claim 'unreasonable public expenditure' at every turn. They would much rather spend as much money as possible hounding refuseniks into their schools to accept the bullying, indiscipline, low teacher morale and mediocrity, it seems. A history lesson may not go amiss here: Adolf Hitler outlawed home education in 1930s Germany. He went on to close down all small schools, forcing children into large impersonal institutions to learn the Nazi 'creed'. We all know what happened next, even those of us who went to school. In Scotland, St Mary's School in Dunblane is being dragged back into local authority control against the express wishes of parents. Now home education is coming under unprecedented attack. Comments from those who are supposed to be impartial have only served to emphasis the seriousness of the threat. Families in England and Wales, the USA, Canada, Japan and across Europe have sent their deepest sympathy to the home educators of Scotland and many have offered refuge to those who choose to leave the country. Are we really such a great threat to the establishment? Have we asked the 'wrong' questions? Are we just another easy target to pick off before they move on to somebody else? A copy of this document can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/homeed.pdf, or can be requested from the Scottish Executive Education Department, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ, tel. 0131 244 7594, e-mail Home.Ed.Guidance@scotland.gsi.gov.uk. Comments to Lindsey Wright (at above address) by 29 March. *S1M-2591# Irene McGugan: Draft Guidance for Home Education-That the Parliament is concerned at the Scottish Executive issuing for consultation draft guidance on the circumstances in which parents may choose to educate their children at home, without taking proper account of the views of children and parents affected by this; does not support this action and recognises the considerable alarm its issue has generated within the home education community and the damage which it is likely to cause to relationships between families and education authorities; further recognises the fundamental human rights of parents and children to choose education outwith school and without being obstructed by the state; notes that section 14 of the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000, under which this draft guidance was issued, was introduced to protect home educating families from any harassment or intimidation by education authorities, as evidenced by an independent report from the Scottish Consumer Council; further notes that section 14 was supported by the Parliament on condition that the content of the guidance was fully informed by home educating families; refutes the consultation document's unfounded and insulting inferences that home educated children are in need of extraordinary measures of care and protection due to the exercise of a lawful educational choice which is equally valid to schooling; considers that the guidance exhorts local authorities to act beyond their powers under section 37 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and seeks to condone unlawful breaches of data protection and human rights legislation; believes that the Minister for Education and Young People should apologise to the home education community in Scotland and withdraw the consultation document immediately on the grounds that the Scottish Executive has no authority to approve such breaches, and, in the light of its failure to address the serious issues raised in the Scottish Consumer Council's report and the many concerns of families who will be affected by such guidance, considers that the Scottish Executive should end the discrimination against home educating families in Scotland forthwith by amending the necessary laws to afford them the same legal rights as those families in England, whereby children may be removed from state schools upon a written notification. (As of 18 January 2002, more than 30 MSPs had signed in support of this Motion)
SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE SLAMMED OVER 'SNEAKY' CIRCULAR
The following press release was issued by Schoolhouse on 7 January 2002: Schoolhouse Home Education Association roundly condemns the Scottish Executive for "sneaking out under cover of Christmas" a draft Circular which not only exhorts education authorities to act beyond their legal powers in dealing with home educating families, but also sanctions the breaching of human rights and data protection legislation by suggesting that census information and other confidential records are to be made available for their use. Denouncing the draft document as a "bully's charter", Convener John White said: "The Scottish Executive has chosen to launch an outrageous attack on educational freedom by publishing a draft document which blatantly encourages local authorities to act beyond their lawful remit. Schoolhouse demands its immediate withdrawal - nothing less will do - and calls upon the Scottish Parliament to investigate the circumstances surrounding this debacle. "This shoddy and self-contradictory document has taken 18 months to write and has succeeded in alienating the entire home education community in a matter of days. It does not warrant a serious response and belongs in the dustbin. And if the Executive persists in its efforts to hound families who are exercising a lawful educational choice, it can expect a spate of court challenges and the biggest and most expensive game of hide-and-seek ever as home educators take the necessary steps to avoid persecution. "The Executive has clearly demonstrated its disdain for home educating families and its inability to listen. We cannot now be satisfied until the law is changed to afford children in Scotland the same legal protection as that enjoyed by those south of the border who are free to leave state schools upon written notification by their parents. "It seems clear that the Executive has chosen to bow to the vested interests of COSLA and cronies rather than take notice of the genuine concerns of home education organisations, or the findings of a Scottish Consumer Council report which condemned local authorities' treatment of home educating families as 'unacceptable harassment'. Having been branded as bullies by the Scottish Consumer Council and home education organisations demanding fair treatment for families, the councils have obviously gone running to 'Big Brother' at the Executive, and the resulting document is almost a carbon copy of ADES/COSLA's original joint submission in which they called for the law to be changed as they kept losing in court." The Scottish Executive also stands accused of attempting to discredit a minority group by making "wicked and unfounded insinuations about home educated children's welfare". "This is a sign of sheer desperation on the part of the Executive as more and more children opt out of the system. Having lost all the arguments against home-based education, which has been shown consistently to be more successful than schooling, Jack McConnell has resorted to smear tactics by suggesting that home educators are more likely to abuse their children. Would he make such a charge against other minority groups such as Gypsy Travellers? Where is his evidence? "Many children come to home education as a result of the school system's failure to address their needs and keep them safe from harm. Up to 20 young lives a year are lost as the result of bullying in schools and Mr McConnell should perhaps concentrate his efforts on protecting those children for whom school continues to be a miserable and dangerous experience." Mr White considered the rights of children to have been "blatantly disregarded" throughout the document: "Much mileage has been made of children's rights, which in the context of this document is risible. Children should be consulted about all decisions, they say, but only if they are home educated. This is overtly discriminatory as schooled children's views can safely be ignored and the principle is being applied selectively as a means of harassing minorities who hold different religious and philosophical views. "Mr McConnell was 'too busy' to meet with home educated young people when they asked for an audience with him last year to air their concerns, but he is probably now 'too late' to do so as they no longer have any time for him. "Even more serious than ignoring children's views is ignoring the law, and this document suggests education authorities may exceed their legal powers. Basically their powers of intervention on educational grounds are similar to those of the Social Work Department who have a duty to act on welfare grounds if they have reason to believe a child is not being adequately cared for. If the education authority is not satisfied regarding educational arrangements, it may require the parent to provide information on the means adopted to educate the child, either in writing or in person with or without the child. This does not give them the right of access to a child against her express wishes. "Home educators are generally happy to answer an authority's reasonable enquiries about their chosen means of education, but there are genuine concerns that education officers are unqualified to assess home-based provision without comprehensive re-training, and that as vested interests in the schooling system, serious doubts may be cast on their impartiality. Schoolhouse is aware of an increasing number of cases where independent reports have been commissioned in an effort to settle disputes about the suitability of education provision when families have lost all confidence in the authorities. Mr White revealed that the document, though dated 1 November 2001, was only received by Schoolhouse on Christmas Eve and did not appear on the Scottish Executive website until 27 December. "I have reason to believe that this document is not the originally-drafted version which included a number of recommendations from home education organisations and was allegedly completed last summer. Schoolhouse had been invited by the Executive to supply examples of written statements of educational philosophy used by home educators to satisfy local authorities as to their educational arrangements for publication in the guidance document, and the copy had been agreed but was subsequently summarily dismissed as 'inappropriate' and dropped. "We strongly suspect that the document was circulated to COSLA/ADES almost two months before being made available to home education organisations since correspondence from local authorities suggested that they were already aware of its contents and that they would soon be allowed access to home educated children with or without the parents' and the children's own consent. "There are further indications that pressure may have been exerted in a devolved matter by the DfES who have admitted that there were 'other plans'for Scots children to be included on a new national tracking database which is to contain personalised details of individual children, including criminal records, school exclusion records, entitlement to free school meals etc., and may potentially be accessed by private sector interests as a means of creating consumer profiles and selecting out those young people who are less desirable as 'human resources for industry'. Without any form of consultation, both the DfES and the Scottish Executive seem to be preparing to collect and pass on personal details of all children without their informed consent or that of their parents, despite having been alerted to major data protection flaws. It is little wonder that the data protection watchdog Elizabeth France has just announced her resignation following repeated clashes with the government." More on the bully's charter
The draft Guidance for Home Education in Scotland is now available - interestingly the publication date is given as 1.11.01, but it arrived at Schoolhouse on Christmas Eve! Copies of this document can be found on the Schoolhouse website at http://www.schoolhouse.org.uk/html/news.shtml. At the time of writing, the proposals are draft and applicable only in Scotland. However, we believe that the references to "tracking" and survellience of children provide a clear link between the provision for home educators in Scotland and the Connexions scheme south of the border, and, should this Circular be adopted in its current form, there will inevitably be a knock-on effect for those home educators in the rest of the UK. ARCH and Schoolhouse are working together to oppose the adoption of this blatant infringement of children's and parents' rights, and roundly condemn this document which "guides" Local Authorities to act unlawfully. ARCH calls for the entire document to be scrapped by the Scottish Executive forthwith, and for an immediate enquiry to establish how public money could be used in the production of such an outrageous, insulting and arrogant document in the first place. |