Our European knowledge society: Learning about learning in Europe

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Our European knowledge society Learning about
learning in Europe
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Homeschooling

• in Poland and UK

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Homeschooling whats this?

• Homeschooling, also called home education, home
  learning or homeschool is the education of
  children at home, typically by parents or
  guardians, rather than in a public or private
  school. Prior to the introduction of compulsory
  school attendance laws, most childhood education
  occurred within the family or community, with
  only a small portion of the population attending
  schools or employing tutors or governesses.
  Currently, the great majority of children in
  developed nations receive their formal education
  in public and private schools.

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Home education in Poland

• Compulsory Attendance Ages 7-18.
• Legal Status The Polish Constitution guarantees
  parents the right to choose the school for their
  child. However, parents must comply with local
  school requirements in order to homeschool.
• Number of Homeschoolers Approximately 20
  families.

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and in United Kingdom

• Compulsory Attendance Ages 5-16
• Legal Status Homeschooling is legal in England
  and Wales under the 1944 Education Act.
• There are no requirements to inform the
  authorities when one is home educating, unless
  the student was previously enrolled in the
  government school system. At that time, the
  parent must let the school official know they are
  withdrawing their student to home educate him. No
  other requirements for home education exist.
• Number of Homeschoolers Between 20,000 and
  100,000 children.

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The law

• Poland
• The Polish Constitution (1997) guarantees the
  right to choose home education. Article 70.3
  states that "Parents are free to choose schools
  other than public for their children.
• Unfortunately, the Educational System Act of 1991
  limits the freedom to homeschool. Article 16. 8
  states "At parents' request the headmaster of
  primary (secondary or high) public school, where
  their child attends at, may give his permission
  for fulfilling the school obligation (or
  compulsory education) by the child, and the
  headmaster must determine all the conditions to
  do it. The child doing so may receive the
  document stating that one of the school years or
  the whole school cycle has been realized after
  he/she passes classification exams executed by
  the school the headmaster of which had given his
  permission to the request."

• UK
• Section 7, Education Act 1996 states, "Efficient
  full-time education, suitable to his age, ability
  and aptitude and to any special education needs
  he may have, either by regular attendance at
  school or otherwise." Under the "or otherwise"
  phrase in the law, families can legally
  homeschool.

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Polish homeschoolers problems

• Marek Budajczak, president of Polish home school
  organisation, Stowarzyszenie Edukacji Domowej,
  has stated that there are two problems with the
  homeschool law in Poland. First, all
  homeschoolers in Poland have to pass an
  examination each year and sometimes twice a year
  in order to continue homeschooling. This results
  in unequal treatment of homeschoolers, as public
  school students are not required to pass annual
  examinations. Secondly, the lack of procedural
  rules for the approval of homeschools results in
  a lack of uniformity in enforcement across the
  country. Every local school is free to create its
  own rules for homeschooling.

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Advantages of Home-Education

• Children working at home are able, from a young
  age, to develop a greater depth of knowledge.
  They are not restricted by the subject matter of
  a narrow curriculum or the content of school
  textbooks but can interact with their parents and
  other adults in a way that allows them to explore
  areas that interest them, at their own pace. This
  has the effect of making them enjoy the process
  of learning , it makes them more responsible and
  mature.

• Home-education also has social advantages. School
  creates an artificial and highly stressful social
  situation that young children in particular find
  difficult to deal with. Home-schooled children
  are not subject to this stress. One of the
  immediate advantages of this, often remarked on
  by friends and family, is that home-schooled
  children get on very well with their brothers and
  sisters. Home-schooled children also find it easy
  to socialise with adults and people of all ages.
  Not being subject to the 'us and them' syndrome
  that characterises school life, they tend to
  accept people as they find them. This has
  long-term advantages because it means that if
  they encounter problems in teenage years they are
  not forced to seek advice solely from people as
  young and immature as themselves.

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Why do we choose homeschooling?
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Some other reasons
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Helens opinion Why I was home-educated how I
feel about it now

• I was HE for 2yrs (last 2yrs of senior school)
  For me this was the best thing my parents did for
  me. (nearly 20yrs ago)
• I had pleaded with my parents to take me out of
  school, my health was in a poor state, I was very
  underweight because I was unable to eat anything
  before during school, Sunday evenings were
  spent feeling sick and sometimes being physically
  sick with nerves. I was diagnosed with IBS at 12
  by our family GP. I remember regularly locking
  myself in the bathroom to avoid going to school.
• I was continually being asked- why didn't I like
  school?, was I being bullied? exam stress? no
  friends?.........None of these applied to me...I
  just hated the whole school environment, I wanted
  to be at home with my family and spend time
  outside on our farm, I was a calm quiet child
  who loved being outside in the fresh air....the
  noisy, crowded environment of a big senior school
  was something I just couldn't handle.

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• Finally my very brave Mum (she recieved a lot of
  negativity .. mainly from other parents, but also
  some family..which was really hard for her)
  convinced my Dad to agree to withdraw me from
  school......... It was the biggest relief!
• I feel my life began when I left school, my only
  regret was I that I hadn't been HE from the
  start.
• Because of my experience my Mum was so convinced
  in the benefits of HE that she decided to HE my
  younger brother for 8yrs as well ( yes.. he's
  turned out fine! he's now a married man of 25
  running his own business)
• Before anyone asks, I did not take GCSE's (I had
  totally switched off from school and anything
  that was remotely linked to school) But I managed
  to get a job at 16 with no problem at all. In
  fact out of the 46 people who applied for the
  same job, of the 20 people who recieved an
  interview, mine apparently stood out because I
  was the only candidate who had properly
  researched the job and who asked relevant
  questions on the interview (as I was told later).
  My CV stood out to them because it was clear,
  concise and professional (this was down to mum
  getting a book from the library (no internet back
  then!) on- 'how to get a job interview'...so
  simple really!
• Helen

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Useful links

• http//www.parentscentre.gov.uk/forum/
• http//www.hslda.org
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling
• http//home-ed.info/
• http//www.freedom-in-education.co.uk/
• Thank you for your attention.
• Made by Katarzyna Igla.