After a spate of personal experiences involving negative assumptions about home education on the part of people who know absolutely nothing about it, I have been thinking I should be getting back to basics and should be explaining all over again why home education - particularly the autonomous sort - is so great. However,
Grit has saved me the trouble.
people may want to read this from BBC
ReplyDeleteThank you for your e-mail about the article regarding the case of Khyra
Ishaq and please accept our apologies for the delay in replying.
We are sorry that you feel unhappy about the coverage of this complex
case. The article you have highlighted looked at whether there could
have been interventions that might have prevented the young girl's
death. It reflected widespread public interest in the case.
Part of this story was that Khyra had not been in school - and in
reporting this we reflected the views of Birmingham City Council about
difficulties gaining access to see the child. They put this in the
context of the wider debate about children being educated outside of
school. This included Graham Badman's report commissioned by the
government.
The article reflects these arguments; it does not take sides. It also
includes the strongly expressed views of home educators who clearly
rejected the council's linking of this case with the wider question of
children being withdrawn from school. It also reflects the argument that
Graham Badman's proposals on home education would not have affected the
outcome.
These are sensitive subjects - about a very sad individual case and
about an issue on which there are strongly held and very sincere
differences of opinion.
We do our best to reflect these ranges of opinion. We have written many
stories about parents' opposition to some of the proposals regarding
home education. Last summer we ran a series of features showing why
families had opted to educate their children at home.
Reflecting the views of home educators, the findings of the Badman
report and the opinion of Birmingham City Council was an honest and
thoughtful attempt to explore a set of particular circumstances, within
the limits of a news story about the death of a young girl.
There would never be any intention to offend any part of the audience,
including home educators.
Thanks again for taking the time to get in touch with us.
Best wishes,
BBC News website