Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Short and Different Version of the LA Questionnaire

From Page 66 of the Home Education Review Report from Graham Badman:

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Annex D – Questionnaire to local authorities

Report to the Secretary of State on the Review of Elective Home Education in England

Section One – About your local authority

Name of LA
Tel. No of main contact
E-mail of main contact
Would you be willing to take part in the next phase of the research in March (including in-depth interviews with key personnel in your organisation)?

Yes/No

1. Who is involved in supporting and monitoring home educated children within the local
authority and other agencies?

Team with main responsibility –
List all teams/professionals involved

Support

Monitoring

Describe how you ensure collaboration and communication between these teams/individuals

Section Two – Data and Tracking

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2. How many children are currently home educated in your local authority?

Registered with LA

Non-registered children

Primary age

Secondary age

Total

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3. Are these figures accurate or based on estimates?

Accurate

Where do you get this data from?

How do you know the data are accurate?

Estimate

What data have you used to arrive at this figure? (List all sources)

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4. How confident are you in the accuracy of this data?

Very confident
Fairly confident
Don’t know
Not very confident
Not at all confident

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5. How often does the local authority get updated data?

List frequency for each source separately

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6. Thinking about your home educated population, what proportions have the following
characteristics? Please say whether these figures are based on estimates or accurate data.

Characteristic/Proportion
Delete as appropriate

Statement for SEN Estimate/accurate
Non-statemented SEN Estimate/accurate
Gypsy, Roma, Traveller heritage Estimate/accurate
Other BME Group (please state below) Estimate/accurate

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7. Do you believe the local authority knows about all the home educated children in
your area?

Yes, we are confident we know about all home educated children in the area
We think we know about the vast majority of home educated children in the area
We probably do not know about a fair number of home educated children in the area
We probably do not know about a significant proportion of home educated children in the area

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8. Do you think that you will be better able to track children in your area in the near future?
e.g. planned changes to your own systems, ContactPoint, other system improvements?

Yes Why do you think that?
No Why do you think that?
Don’t know

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Section Three – Supporting Home Educating Families

9. How does the local authority ensure families know about their rights and
responsibilities in relation to home education?

List all approaches used

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10. What support does your local authority provide to home educating families?

List all forms of support offered


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11. How does the local authority let families know about the services provided to support
them in home educating their children?

List all approaches used

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Section Four – Assessment and Monitoring

12. Following the initial assessment visit, are further monitoring visits made to a home
educated child?

Yes
No
Don’t know

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12a. If yes, how often, on average, are these carried out?

More than twice a year
How often?
Twice a year
Once a year
Less than once a year

Additional comments

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13. On average, how often is the child seen when a visit is made?

Always, at each visit
Usually, but not always
Sometimes
Never
Depends on the child/circumstances
Please describe

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14. If the child is seen, where is s/he usually seen?

In the home
At the home, but do not go inside
Another venue
Please specifiy _____________________________________
Depends on the child/circumstances
Please describe

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15. If you are not permitted access to a child, is any further action taken?

Yes
No
Don’t know

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15a. If yes, what further steps are taken?

Please describe

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16. How is the ‘suitability’ of the education provided to the child assessed?

Please describe

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17. Is the local authority clear about what the definition of a ‘suitable education’ is?

Yes Why is that?
No Why is that?

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18. Does the local authority have systems in place to track the educational progress of home educated children?

Yes
No
Don’t know
If yes, please describe the system

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19. Of the home educated children in your area of whom you have knowledge, what proportion in your estimation are receiving a suitable, full time (20hrs a week) education?

Please describe

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20. Does the local authority take any further steps if a home educated child’s education
was found to be unsuitable or not full time?

Yes
No
Don’t know

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20a. If yes, what steps are then taken? Please describe

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21. Does the local authority face any challenges in assessing whether home educated children receive a suitable education?

Yes
No
Don’t know
If yes, please describe challenges and what you think could be done to overcome these

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22. Thinking about your local area, in the last five years 25, how many cases have you come across that use the premise of home education as a ‘cover’ for child abuse, forced marriage or other aspects of child neglect?

Please specify number

_____________________________________________________________

Additional comments

Please include the number of Serious Case Reviews you know about that have a home education element Since January 2003. NB – this data will not be aggregated or used in any other way. This data will provide an overall sense of the scale of this issue.

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23. Do you think the current system for safeguarding children who are educated at home
is adequate?

Yes Why do you think that?
No Why do you think that?
Don’t know

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24. Do you think that home educated children in your local authority are able to achieve
the five Every Child Matters outcomes?

Yes
Please say why for each of the five outcomes.
Be healthy
Stay safe
Enjoy and achieve
Make a positive contribution
Achieve economic well-being

No

Please say why for each of the five outcomes.

Be healthy
Stay safe
Enjoy and achieve
Make a positive contribution
Achieve economic well-being

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25. Do you think there should be any changes made to the current system for supporting
home educated families?

Yes What should they be?
No Why do you think that?
Don’t know

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26. Do you think there should be any changes made to the current system for monitoring
home educating families and ensuring that home educated children are able to achieve
the five outcomes?

Yes What should they be?
No Why do you think that?
Don’t know

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Thank you for taking time to respond to these questions.

Please return your completed questionnaire, by Friday 6 February to homeeducation.review@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk or by post to the address on page one.

If you are returning the questionnaire electronically, please add the name of the DCS and Lead Member in the signature box.

Declaration
I agree that the information supplied in this questionnaire is a true reflection of practice in this local authority.

Signed_______________________________________________________ Date _____________
Director of Children’s Services
Signed_______________________________________________________ Date _____________

Lead Member for Children

The information you have provided may be subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
This does not necessarily mean that your response can be made available to the public as there
are exemptions relating to information provided in confidence and information to which the Data
Protection Act 1998 applies. You may request confidentiality by ticking the box provided, but you should note that this may not exclude the public right of access.

Please tick if you want to keep your response confidential.

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