Educational Philosophies

A fact sheet for England and Wales

Introduction by Education Otherwise Government Policy Group

In the course of our work with Education Otherwise we are often asked about educational philosophies so we have put together this FAQ sheet. The information below applies to England and Wales. The law and guidance for Scotland is quite different and you should refer to our website page on Scotland for more information.

The law in England and Wales pertaining to home education or education otherwise than at school is contained in section 7 of the 1996 Education Act.

"The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age ability and aptitude and to any special needs he may have either by regular attendance at school or otherwise."

Home educating families do not have to follow a curriculum or work for a "school day" or provide "school at home" type conditions. Home educated young people are not required by law to study for formal qualifications although some families choose to do so. Please read the Government guidelines for England or Wales for more information. The guidelines are approximately twenty pages long and are not overly technical. They are written for parents as well as for the local authorities.

If your child is currently on a school roll as a registered pupil and you wish to take him/her out of school in order to educate at home then there are legal steps which you must follow. More information is given about this process in the Education Otherwise website page on deregistration.

References

1996 Education Act (notably section 7 at the beginning of the Act)
DCSF Elective Home Education Guidelines for Local Authorities in England
Welsh Assembly Guidelines for Local Authorities in Wales
Human Rights Act 1998 quoting the European Convention on Human Rights
Campbell and Cosans judgement defining "philosophical convictions"

FAQ

What is an educational philosophy or "ed phil" and how does it differ from a report

An educational philosophy is an overview of your beliefs and values. Some people also use the term "educational philosophy" to include a report about the educational provision they are making for their child with examples of how these beliefs and values are translated into action, whereas others use the expression just to mean the short statement where they say what they believe. The law says that "the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions." We go on to set out how this doesn't mean you can only home educate for religious reasons nor only if you subscribe to a recognised belief system or theory. We also explain how the belief statement fits with the list of resources and with your report on your educational provision.

Why might it be a good idea to write an educational philosophy

It might be a good idea to write an educational philosophy because it is a way to demonstrate that you are causing your child to receive efficient education as required by law. Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act states that:

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable-
(a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and
(b) to any special educational needs he may have,
either by regular attendance at school or otherwise."

The key thing here is "efficiency." As it says in the Government's Guidelines on Home Education in England:

"The responsibility for a child's education rests with his or her parents. An "efficient" and "suitable" education is not defined in the Education Act 1996 but "efficient" has been broadly described in case law as an education that "achieves that which it sets out to achieve"" p. 5

The Welsh Guidelines ask for "an indication that parents have thought through their reasons for home educating and what they hope to achieve" (section 4.1)

For this reason it is worth describing what you are setting out to achieve because you will be judged efficient if you achieve your aims. This is what is meant by an "educational philosophy" which sets out your beliefs and values and states what you want for your child as he/she grows up.

How long does it have to be

Your "statement of values" can be as long or as short as you want. Some people want to write pages and pages and others find that what they believe and what they are trying to achieve can be summed up in a couple of paragraphs. You are likely to go into greater length with your report giving examples of how it works in practice and what sort of resources you are using.

Do I have to follow this recipe for writing an educational philosophy

There are no hard and fast rules for writing an educational philosophy. The rationale for using the formula belief statement + resources + report is that in theory this gives all the information which a reasonable local authority or court would need in order to see if it appears your children are receiving efficient full time education suitable to their age, aptitude and ability. It sets out the beliefs by which you live thereby asserting your right to educate your children in accordance with your religious or philosophical convictions. It also says what you want for your children which means that your educational provision can be judged efficient because it is achieving what it sets out to achieve. It gives further information about what you are providing for your children's education and gives a picture of how your home education works in practice.

Help! I'm not following any recognised "philosophy" or "method" so what can I write

It doesn't matter. You don't have to be "philosophical" . The Human Rights Act 1998 quotes Article 2 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights as follows:

"No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions."

So what is meant by "philosophical convictions" in this context?

There is an important case in European Law, namely Campbell and Cosans where "education in accordance with the parents' philosophical convictions" has been defined as convictions being "akin to the term "beliefs" (in the French text: "convictions")and denoting views that "attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance."

"Philosophical convictions" were further defined in the same judgement as convictions " worthy of respect in a "democratic society". You can find the full reference here.

This is understood to mean that your "philosophy" is something which you take seriously. The State respects your right to educate your child according to your beliefs as long as this does not deny your child an education. It is important to realise that "education" is nowhere defined in law.

I sent my educational philosophy to my local authority but they say it isn't enough so what can I do now

Sometimes when this happens it is because there is a misunderstanding about what is meant by an educational philosophy and the problem can be rectified by supplying information in three distinct categories (the belief statement, the list of resources and the report) and showing how they are inter-connected. Sadly in other cases the local authority may not at first realise that there are many valid ways for the home educating family to supply information about the educational provision and may even try and insist that the law requires access to the child which at present is not the case unless there are specific and serious safeguarding concerns.

The DCSF Home Education Guidelines for England state:

"If they choose not to meet [with the local authority], parents may be asked to provide evidence that they are providing a suitable education. If a local authority asks parents for information they are under no duty to comply although it would be sensible for them to do so.10 Parents might prefer, for example, to write a report, provide samples of work, have their educational provision endorsed by a third party (such as an independent home tutor) or provide evidence in some other appropriate form." p.10
You need to stay calm and establish exactly what the local authority perceives to be the problem. One way you can do this is to write to the authority and ask them to be more precise about what they mean when they say your educational philosophy isn't "enough." You could also ask someone else eg a friend or the Education Otherwise Helpline or an internet support list how they would interpret the statement from the local authority. It can be helpful to get more eyes looking over an official letter because in the heat of the moment it is possible to jump to a conclusion or to misinterpret a loosely worded letter.

You might end up debating the validity of supplying an educational philosophy rather than providing information in a different form. The validity of this has already been covered in the DCSF Government Guidelines quoted above which essentially say that it is up to the parent to choose how to present the information.

But in other cases the authority may entirely have accepted the principle of supplying information in written form, but they could still have unanswered questions in their mind. Typical reservations we meet time and time again from the LA tend to be along the following lines : "if you don't make the child do something how will he ever learn" ; "if the education is "child-led" you might end up missing out whole areas of the curriculum so do you have a plan for this"; " is there a system for assessing and reviewing the child's progress and if not, why not"; "we can't see anything here about the child's career ambitions and aspirations and how the parents plan to facilitate this ".

Read about the three part educational philosophy for more information.

To a certain extent we also see the local authority saying " in this family the parent isn't qualified or sufficiently academic to cover all the subjects at secondary level" but this is also an issue with families who agree to meet the local authority or who supply samples of written work and is not a difficulty inherent in supplying an educational philosophy.

I am much better at talking than I am at putting things down on paper. Do I still have to write an educational philosophy

No, it is certainly not compulsory to write an educational philosophy. A major reason why educational philosophies are recommended are that they comply with the law as far as information about educational provision is concerned without impinging on any areas which the family may not wish to share with the authority such as access to the child or samples of written work. However we are aware that some families prefer to provide information in an alternative form and Government Guidelines for both England and Wales stress that it is the parents' legal choice to do so. We also know that some families put together photographs or a scrapbook of what the children have been doing during the year in place of a written report and that this record is made available for the local authority if there are any questions or doubts about the educational provision being made for the children.

What are the three distinct parts to an educational philosophy and why are they important

The three parts are:

The Belief Statement
The List of Resources
How you are putting your beliefs into practice (with examples) also known as The Report

You can take the Belief Statement in isolation as your educational philosophy or you can take all three parts and call this your educational philosophy. You can also take the list of resources and examples of how you put your beliefs into practice and call that your "report." To an extent these terms are interchangeable. Your local authority may be more likely to use the term "report" or "annual report."

How to write an educational philosophy + list of resources + how you are putting your beliefs into practice

Belief Statement

Firstly you need to set out the values which are important to you and your family. These could be to do with the value you place on family life or a belief that children in school are denied a childhood or an emphasis on your child's academic potential which can only be met by education outside the system or a focus on your child's special educational needs or disabilities which you believe can only be met in a small personalised familiar setting.

If you are home educating for specific religious or philosophical reasons then this could be a good place to raise it, if you choose. On the other hand, you don't have to make any kind of issue about it at all if you prefer not. We hope it is clear that you don't have to subscribe to a recognised labelled "belief system" or "educational method" in order to be able to say that you are providing your child with an education which conforms with your values.

The important thing is that your educational provision must be "efficient" and therefore you need to be able to tie in what you say you believe and value with your outline of what is happening in practice. The other major factor to bear in mind is that all sorts of families home educate for all kinds of reasons. You may start your home education journey believing that you have to provide school at home but later you would learn that this is not what the law says. You can do so if you wish but it is not a legal obligation to replicate school and you risk tying yourself in knots if you make promises about this to a third party at the local authority. You are "efficient" if you achieve what you set out to achieve, so you need to think hard about what you actually want and how you might go about achieving your goals.

Here are examples of different approaches to home education (not an exhaustive list and you may identify with aspects of several approaches):

Do you want your child to be ahead of the crowd?
Are you only planning to home educate for a short time?
Are you home educating because of Special Educational Needs?
Are you home educating because you don't want your child to be institutionalised?
Are you home educating in line with a recognised pedagogy such as Steiner Waldorf/Montessori/
Charlotte Mason?
Are you home educating because of religious reasons?
Are you home educating because your child was bullied at school?

Do you want your child to be ahead of the crowd?

If you believe in accelerated learning and that you home educate so your child is ahead of peers at school, then it might reasonably be expected that you will need an in-depth knowledge of the standards expected in schools and a breakdown of the different key stages of the National Curriculum in order to achieve your goals. In addition you would probably be giving examples of where you had provided opportunities specifically designed stretch your child academically. You might consider your educational provision a success as long as you had provided all the right opportunities or you might only consider it truly efficient if your child did achieve the academic standards you had set for yourselves. How you define success is up to you and your family.

Are you only planning to home educate for a short time?

If you are home educating for a short time but you fully intend for your child to be reintegrated into the school system, then someone might reasonably expect that you will want to know what children in school are doing. You don't have to have all the answers.

Are you home educating because of Special Educational Needs?

If you are home educating because of your child's special needs then it might be beneficial to set out what YOUR aims are as opposed to any learning objectives or targets set out in a Statement of Special Educational Needs. You can find out much more about this via the HE-Special support list. If your child is Gifted and Talented this can also be regarded as a Special Educational Need in addition to the legal requirement for the child's education to be suitable to ability and aptitude.

Are you home educating because you don't want your child to be institutionalised?

Some families opt for home education because they reject the values of mass schooling. In this case it would be reasonable to expect that the family attaches a high value to individual self-expression and self-motivation. This is sometimes called "autonomous education" . Families who approach home education from this perspective are sometimes doubtful that the local authority will understand this approach but in our experience the authorities are becoming increasingly familiar with the concept.

Are you home educating in line with a recognised pedagogy such as Steiner Waldorf/Montessori/
Charlotte Mason?

As we have explained it is not necessary to home educate in line with a recognised pedagogical approach. However, some home educating families choose to subscribe to a theory or to follow a programme or curriculum and these families will need to show how they implement the theory in practice.

Are you home educating because of religious reasons?

This is a much less common reason for home educating in the UK than it is in the United States. It is protected by the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights. However, as with other belief systems it is not enough simply to state your beliefs, it is also prudent to give some information about how you implement these beliefs on a day to day basis. Remember that the local authority may not be interested in the reasons why you are rejecting the state sector as much as finding out how you engage with your child and the business of providing an education within your family.

Are you home educating because your child was bullied at school?

Sadly this is a very common reason for families to begin home education. It may be viewed as a "negative" reason for home education and it is important to demonstrate that your family is able and willing to undertake home education and that you are looking forward rather than dwelling on the injustices and problems of the past. As we have said above, please remember that the local authority may not be interested in the reasons why you are rejecting the state sector as much as finding out how you engage with your child and the day to day business of providing an education within your family.

However your local authority should be aware that the after-effects of bullying can last for years and that your family's immediate priority may be to rebuild self-confidence, emotional wellbeing and resilience. In addition some children who have been bullied at school are only gradually able to integrate and socialise with their peers and the law supports the family acting in accordance with its beliefs in this area.

Resources

It is useful to give information about the resources you are currently using or planning to use in the course of providing home-based education. This does not mean that you have to buy expensive equipment or a packaged curriculum or pay for private tutors. Home educators tend to be resourceful and innovative. In this section you might wish to include the following:

interested supportive adults who facilitate the child's learning and discovery
access to public libraries and to school libraries where the local authority permits this
access to the internet either at home or in libraries
contact with other home educating families on local basis or via membership of a national support organisation such as Education Otherwise or via internet support lists to share educational ideas, benefit from the experience of others and to provide socialisation opportunities
opportunities for trips and outings to stimulate or to follow up the child's interest in a particular subject
access to materials for reading and writing which may include personal computers

This is not an exhaustive list and is simply to give you an idea of the kind of thing which counts as an educational resource. You do not have to be an expert in a particular subject or to be a qualified teacher in order to facilitate your child's interest and provide a personalised education tailored to your child's needs. With home-based education the family often learns together.

Report

It is worthwhile giving examples of how your home education works in practice. Some families choose to send in an educational philosophy and report in place of a face to face meeting while other families provide all the information in written form. Some families like to keep a diary or notes or photographs of what they are doing eg on a weekly basis. Others use blogs. Some families keep samples of their children's work or evidence of educational projects or trips. In other cases families will note which books the children are reading or which films they are watching and discussing or which are their favourite websites. None of this information has to be shown directly to the local authority unless the family is comfortable with doing so but it can nevertheless be useful to keep a record for yourself particularly when you first start home educating. You may feel as if you are not achieving very much but when you review your notes or photographs this will give you confidence that you are on the right tracks and also provide you with the information you need to be able to assess what is working well and areas which might need some adjustment.

What happens if we start home educating in one way and then find we don't want to carry on

We often see families who begin home educating for one reason and then find that their values have evolved. Nothing has to be set in stone. Over time the autonomous family may become more geared towards gaining external qualifications while the structured family who began with "school at home" may tend more towards self-expression or may value "life skills" or vocational experience over traditional academic qualifications.

We sometimes see families who feel that once they have committed themselves to home educating in a particular way they are not allowed to adapt or alter their course. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Any successful individual or organisation is likely to be adaptable and responsive to the need for flexibility and change where necessary, rather than blindly sticking to the same formula.