Parents ‘home school’ truants to escape fines
‘Forced into doing it’
PARENTS are claiming their children are homeschooled to dodge fines for truancy.
Families can be charged £60 if a pupil skips school without permission. Failure to pay can lead to prosecution and even jail.
An Ofsted report has found that the threat of fines and court encourages some parents to pull out of formal schooling altogether.
One parent told the watchdog: ‘I have been forced into doing it because there was no other option. If I didn’t I’d end up with a fine or prison.’
The report said: ‘School leaders and a few parents acknowledged that parents can move to home education to avoid penalties. It is clear that prosecution for non-attendance and permanent exclusions are sometimes a trigger for moves to home education.
‘The reasons behind this are complex and at worst may include gaming from schools or neglectful parenting.’
The watchdog said schools were sometimes to blame, by giving parents of truanting pupils an ultimatum of ‘permanent exclusion or leave’.
In some cases the fines were imposed unfairly when pupils were absent for reasons of anxiety or disability. All parents have the right to home-school but they are supposed to do so only if they believe they can provide a better education than teachers could.
Ofsted’s latest report suggests this loophole is being exploited by parents who hope to escape punishment for failing to make their children go to school.
Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, said: ‘Home education is a legitimate parental choice and can be a positive decision when parents are well equipped to provide a good education.
‘However, children should not be moved to home education simply to resolve difficulties in school.
‘Schools, local authorities and parents need to work together before such a decision is made, to make sure that home education is genuinely in the interests of children and not just the best thing for schools or parents.’
Ofsted’s study was conducted across seven local authorities in the East Midlands to look at how and why children move from secondary school to home education.
It concluded that often the decision was made as a last resort rather than a choice.
Many parents told Ofsted they had no idea of the impact on their finances – or how their children would sit exams.