Home Education Uk Law

Home education in the uk is often termed elective home education ehe to signify the independent nature of practice from state provisions such as education for children with ill health provided by the local authority in the family home.

Home education uk law. You and your parents can choose home education instead if you both prefer and this is perfectly legal. The uk s premier source of free support since 2000. Home education is legal throughout the uk and has been for many decades. Ehe is a collective term used in the uk to describe education provided other than through the schooling system.

However the laws in the four countries of the uk england scotland northern ireland and wales are not identical. This is called home education sometimes elective home education or home schooling. Suitable education is defined in law as education which is suitable to the child s age ability aptitude and special needs. New home education guidance 2019.

Each individual enquiry about home education request to withdraw a child from school or contact between a local authority and a home educating family. Most parents do this by sending a child to school but attending school is not the only option. This means your parents can teach you at home. However it is a choice which only a minority of parents make.

Home education is legal in the uk although there are some differences in the law between the four countries to home educate in the uk you do not have to be a trained teacher and you do not have to follow the national curriculum or take sats tests. According to the 1996 education act in england and wales it is parents not the state who are responsible for providing their children s education. Your parents by law must make sure that you get education between the ages of 5 and 16. We are the home page for a number of support mailing lists and other resources and sister site to educational heretics press.

The full law is set out in section 7 of the education act 1996. For more information about the legalities of home education visit the department for education education otherwise or home education uk. You can get help with home education. On april 2nd 2019 the department for education published new non statutory guidance for local authorities which can be read here this replaces the 2007 2013 elective home education guidelines for local authorities.

If a parent refuses to let the local authority enter the home or speak to the child this cannot constitute on its own a ground for concern about the education provision. Case law has held that local authorities cannot insist on inspecting parents and children in their home or elsewhere.