All home-schooled children will appear on a register with their local authority under new plans to stop vulnerable young people “vanishing under the radar”.
Education Secretary Damian Hinds will set out proposals today which will track the status of children who don’t attend state-funded or registered independent schools.
An estimated 60,000 children are thought to be home-educated in the UK, with the number rising annually, according to the Department for Education.
The proposed measures will require parents to register their child or face sanctions. These include council-imposed “school attendance orders” to force parents to enrol their child in mainstream education.
Many parents opt for home-schooling if their child suffers a bad experience or has special educational needs. Some are complaining that The DfE’s new proposals signify an unnecessary level of bureaucracy.
However, Mr Hinds insisted that the plans are not intended to inconvenience “dedicated parents doing an admirable job”, but to “prevent vulnerable young people from vanishing under the radar”.
"The term 'home education' has now acquired a much broader meaning than it used to. It is now a catch-all phrase, used to refer to all children not in a registered school,” said Mr Hinds.
"So whilst this does include those actually getting a really good education at home, it also includes children who are not getting an education at all, or being educated in illegal schools where they are vulnerable to dangerous influences - the truth is, we just don't know.”
Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield said the number of children being educated outside of mainstream schools had "sky-rocketed", adding: “It is vitally important that we know that all children are safe and that they are receiving the education they deserve to help them to succeed in life.”
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The proposed measures will also aim to increase support for home-educating parents, with local authorities required to provide teaching resources or financial contributions to exam fees. A public consultation will be open until June 24.
