...all 70 plus pages of it. (opens a hefty PDF).
At first glance, it is actually worse than I anticipated. See summary at Chapter 12 on page 38.
Ed Balls appears to approve however and has recommended that there be a consultation on the report.
Update - The consultation is already up and can be found here.
14 comments:
Its guidance when does guidance become law or have I missed a bit.......
The consultation is already up on the DCSF website: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=consultationDetails&consultationId=1643&external=no
Then it will become the law.
I still dont get the whole interview the child alone thing, school are not allowed to do this, so if some bod from the LA wants to do this I assume as parents we get to see their CV take references and see both sections of their full CRB after all we dont know who they are and we are allowing them to be alone in our homes with our children, I really believe on this point alone legal advice is needed as I think its a privacy invasion and would not stand up under human rights or the UNHRC either off to reasearch...
It makes me feel sick, we can only hope the govt falls before it passes into law. If the Welsh Assembly Govt adopt this as well, I think I'll want to emmigrate! There is no way I am allowing some stranger to interrogate my daughter alone!
It's clear that this is a facist government. Graham Badman is also a facist. We need to fight this to the end and I too will not be allowing any stranger from the LA to interview my child alone.
God know who they might be. Untrained idiots who think school is best probably!
I think Badman/Balls needs an influx of mail to tell them what we think of their report.
It's clear esp after reading his remarks on Autonomous education that he hasn't listented to anything the Home Ed community has said.
Let the campaign begin! Down with this government!
re: CRB checks. The LA's will say they vet all their staff, just like schools do so we won't be able to ask to see anything. :(
Hoping to be guided in fighting this every inch of the way.
A child doesn't even have to be with a doctor without the reassuring presence of their parent. A child should not be made to be in a room with strangers - two they are proposing in certain cases - and 'examined'. They don't even take schooled children into little rooms on their own to pry into their lives. Surely what they are suggesting here is not legally possible, given that they don't do this with any other children and if they did there would be outrage?
Clearly Badman thinks that parents are concealing children's 'real thoughts' on HE and evidence of their measurable achievements. He is treating the parents with suspicion and finding them guilty in advance. Isn't this also very dodgy ground legally?
D
We should all strike and refuse the inspections.
Is it true when he says that case law on the ECHR challenges the notion that we have a right to home educate? Is he trying to threaten us with this law if we don't accept his fascist agenda?
He is counting on the fact that we are all so individualistic we will be unable to agree enough to combat this injustice. I think we need to prove him wrong.
D
(Sorry for repeating you Rachel earlier - missed your comment at first)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8093796.stm
So it's a done deed is it?
If they are taking the child's views into account (isn't this important under ECM principles or am I thinking of something else), what happens if the child doesn't want to be seen on his/her own?
Good point, S. I have yet to receive a satisfactory answer to this.
And if children's views are so important, are they going to call a case conference every time a schooled kid says they would prefer to be home educated?
If so, I already have some 20 odd case conferences lined up for them right now.
Can the police even interview a child without a parent being present (if the child lives with a/the parent/s)?
I'm too tired and need to have a really good think about this before my brain properly catches up, but this was one of the main things that caught my eye whilst reading the report (and it's taken a few read throughs for it to begin to sink in) and really concerned me.
Even my (soon-to-be-ex) husband commented that this was surely a step beyond and was there going to be a move to keep tabs on parents of school-children in the holidays, or all under-5s (bearing in mind the recent cases of abuse in the news appearing to be mostly in this age group).
I'm also concerned as it appears *they'll* be gunning for AE. We're in the structured(ish) camp, but naturally I know quite a few AE-ers and can see how well it works for the children and young people concerned.
Also any tightening of what constitutes a 'suitable ed' concerns me.
I read the line re. 8 year olds reading and well, as someone interested in Steiner ed I absolutely do not want to be in a position where my very young children are forced to read at a certain age (such behaviour near destroyed my now 12 year old's confidence when he first attended school - it's taken years to support him to gain the confidence to read).
Post a Comment