Graham Stuart (Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness) said:
Thousands of people replied to the consultation on the Badman review of elective home education. Many pointed to the lack of evidence and the weakness of the data that underlay his recommendations. May we have a debate in Government time on home education so that Ministers can be informed by it before they introduce any draft legislation?
Harriet Harman uselessly replied:
Again, that is something that could usefully be debated in Westminster Hall or on the Adjournment.
My annotation to the online transcript read:
Graham Stuart is absolutely correct to ask for a debate on the issue of legislative change arising from the recommendations that have been accepted in full by the Secretary of State.
To consider this an issue of little concern that will only affect home educators is misguided. These grossly disproportionate recommendations hold serious implications for the civil liberties of parents, children and families in this country.
They place primary responsibility for assessing the suitability of education and the welfare of the child on the state, rather than the parent - with no prior evidence that either is unsatisfactory prior to grossly intrusive intervention.
The review assumes that the home is an inherently unsafe or unhealthy place for the child to be. It undermines the role of the parent and tramples over family freedoms in its haste to set parent and child up against each other, bestowing additional and selective "rights" on home educated children that only the government can adequately minister to.
It destroys the very possibility of true autonomy in learning. It operates from a position of requiring proof of parental innocence rather than reasonable suspicion of guilt. It universally uses the coercive and interventionist tools of parental licensing, entry to the home, inspection according to external standards, and power to see the child without the parent present.
Unless the outcome of these recommendations is to be horribly discriminatory to a minority community, these measures will have to apply to anyone who has their child at home with them: particularly parents with under 5s, those whose children attend private school, and also those with school-aged children who are at home in the evenings, over the weekends, and throughout the summer holidays.
Every parent will have to submit to parental inspection, perhaps without their presence. The outcome of these inspections will be based on the very human whim of a local authority officer, who will have the power to destroy the life and education that that parent has conceived for his or her child.
If the government is to avoid further discrimination it also stands to reason that each child who attends school must be given the same "rights" as home educated children - to have their voices heard regarding whether or not they are happy to be educated in school, whether they are satisfied with their teachers and whether they feel safe in such an environment. It is only right that appropriate action be taken to rectify the situation if the educational provision is not suitable of if the child's welfare is in question.
Such serious questions deserve serious and lengthy debate before any such utterly disproportionate legislation is passed - it is legislation that will fundamentally alter the relationship between citizen and state for good.
A home educating constituent passed my annotation to David Amess (Conservative MP for Southend West), who had this to say:
I agree with all the sentiments that have been posted by Lisa Amphlett on the link you provided. It is my opinion that the parents of a child are far better placed than the state to know how to best provide for them.
That'll do nicely!
