Support the crackdown on illegal schools

Children not in school consultation

The Government is currently holding a consultation on introducing a compulsory register of home-educated children.

By closing loopholes in the law, the register will make it harder for illegal schools to operate.

Many pupils who attend these schools are taught by unqualified teachers in appalling conditions where there is a total lack of safeguarding. Some have even been subject to physical abuse. When these schools have a religious character, the curriculum is usually narrow and focused exclusively on learning religious scripture (sometimes including extreme misogynistic and homophobic content). We have worked with former pupils of these schools who, despite growing up in the UK, left unable to speak English and ill-prepared for life in modern Britain.

Many illegal schools claim that they are not schools but simply provide supplementary education for pupils whose primary education is home education. However, because home education is unregulated and there is no register of children receiving their education outside of school, Ofsted and the Government are powerless to check these claims or identify the children attending these settings.

Please support the proposed crackdown on illegal schools by responding to the consultation.

Responses must be submitted by Monday 24 June 2019 via the online survey.

The survey is short and should take no longer than 5-10 minutes to complete.

Our suggested responses to the survey are listed below in boxes like this one – please adapt these answers or add your own thoughts when responding to the consultation.

Respond to the consultation

1. Do you agree that local authorities should be obliged to maintain a register of children who are not registered at specified schools (those listed at paragraph 2.2) or being educated under s.19 arrangements?

Yes, I strongly support this proposal. The current absence of information on numbers of home-educated children, details about them and where (or if) they are receiving an education not only threatens the ability of local authorities to ensure that all the children in their local areas are being educated, but also helps illegal schools to operate by preventing authorities (like Ofsted) from being able to check the claim that they are not schools and simply provide supplementary lessons for home-educated children.

2. And should such a register specify whether they are attending an educational setting (other than their own home) during school hours?

Yes. To effectively ensure that settings claiming to provide supplementary education to home-educated pupils are not, in fact, operating as illegal, unregistered schools which provide all or most of the education such pupils receive, it is of fundamental importance that all pupils are explicitly linked to all the settings they attend via the register. Since it is possible that illegal schools may operate outside of normal school hours while still providing all of the education that some children receive, the register should stipulate a a minimum time requirement for the settings that should be listed rather than referring solely to activities that take place during the school day.

3. Should the register be widened still further to also include children who are being educated under s.19 arrangements?

Yes. To ensure that children do not slip through the cracks between different types of provision and make it less likely that they are able to attend illegal schools, all children who are educated outside mainstream or independent schools should be included on the register.

4. Should the register include flexi-schooled children (ie those who are educated at home or elsewhere for some of the week during school hours but are also on the admission register of a state-funded or registered independent school)?

Yes. See previous response.

5. What information do you think the register should contain about each child and its parents?

At the very least, the register should include basic personal details such as the name, date of birth, and address of the child, as well as that of their parent(s) and/or carer(s). It should also include information about any setting(s) where that child receives all or part of their education, particularly the name, location, and proprietor details, but also how much time is spent at each setting.

12. Do you have any other comments on either the principle of registration or practical issues related to registration on the basis proposed?

Although the proposal to introduce a register is necessary to ensuring that illegal schools are unable to operate, it is not enough. In addition the Government must introduce:
1. A statutory threshold for ‘full-time’ education, which recognises that regardless of any time threshold, a setting providing a child’s main source of education – a home, a school, or an ostensibly ‘part-time setting’ – should be subject to registration.
2. A statutory definition of ‘suitable’ education. This should include, at the very least, minimum expectations for literacy and numeracy, and the promotion of British values.
3. Enhanced powers for Ofsted to inspect and seize evidence from settings suspected of operating as illegal schools, as well as out of school and other settings that provide a substantial proportion of their pupils’ education (over a certain minimum time threshold).

13. Do you agree that parents should be under a legal duty to provide information to their local authority about a child who is within scope of the proposed registration requirement?

Yes. Without such a duty it will be impossible for local authorities to collect accurate information and safeguard the rights and interests of children because the most at-risk children will generally be those whose parents are the least likely to opt in to a system of registration.

19. Do you agree with the general approach that the proprietors of settings providing education in school hours – other than specified types of school – should be under a duty to supply information to local authorities about any child in scope of the proposed register?

Yes. For the reasons outlined in response to question 1, settings that provide a substantial part of any child’s education should be under a duty to provide information about that child. However, the duty should apply to settings that operate outside of school hours when they are responsible for all or most of a child’s education.

20. Which settings do you think should be included in the scope of the duty?

All settings which meet the criteria outlined in response to question 19.