Why Robert Halfon is wrong to push for exams and standardised assessments for home educators

The case for exams for home educators has recently been made by Robert Halfon, Chair of the Education Committee, in the Inquiry into Home Education. (Q97 - Q105).  He seems to be basing his argument on the idea that exams are the best way to ensure that an education is suitable and that there should be parity with schools. 

The fact is, home educators are well aware that they have a legal duty to provide an education that is suited to the age, ability and aptitude of their children, but this is actually precisely why so many home educators are home educating - a school-based education WAS NOT SUITABLE FOR THEIR CHILDREN and in testing for a standardised school-based education, you would most likely cause the educational provision to become unsuitable. 

It may come as a bit of a surprise to people like Halfon and his fellow exam lover, Mr Gove, (both of whom, one imagines, were successful in the school system and who therefore now get to formulate education policy), but not everyone gets a huge rush from taking exams.  For one thing, there is such a thing as genetic variability.  Let's look at the impact of just one genetic variation amongst the many thousands of other potentially impactful variants. 

The COMT gene (catechol-O-methyl transferase) regulates the amount of dopamine in the pre-frontal cortex - the part of the brain that needs to be functioning if you are going to do well in exams.  A certain amount of dopamine is helpful, but too much causes overwhelm.  People have fast and slow variants of the COMT gene. Those with slow variants clear dopamine and stress hormones more slowly and are therefore much more easily overwhelmed and most likely will struggle with exams, than those with faster variants.  However, these with slow variants can function at a high academic level in unstressful situations. 

It follows as light follows day, that forcing these families to educate these sorts of children in a school-like way with high stakes exams and other stress-inducing tests, would inevitably result in parents then dramatically failing to meet their legal duty to provide a suitable education.  This would be the fault of the DfE.  It is perfectly possible to imagine that children will have a future case against the Department when it becomes demonstrably clear through increased genetic research that the DfE forced them to do something that inhibited their ability to learn well. 

And just in case Mr Halfon is still worrying, let's be clear.  It is not that those with a slow variant are consigned to a life of uselessness. They just think better when not stressed and in the adult world, not beleaguered by the childist restraints that reduce children to minutely controlled minions, they can find careers which better fit their genetic legacy. 

And of course, the COMT gene is but just one of a huge number of genes that influence our aptitude for learning. The ever expanding research into polygenetic origins of our behaviour seem to be pointing to the fact that the interaction of a large number of genes largely determines our educational propensities.  Robert Plomin's work on identical twins and adoption studies and into polygenetic scores has led him to conclude: "Let your child go with his or her genes, taking up those opportunities to which they are genetically suited". 

So what do you actually want of us Mr Halfon?  To keep on endlessly trying to force square pins into round holes, or to do as the law at s7 requires, and get on with providing an education that actually does suit our young people?