[3] The numbers of families retaining direct responsibility for the education of their children has steadily increased since the late 1970s.
[10] The number of homeschoolers in the United Kingdom rose by 130 per cent between 2013 and 2018, with the increase varying widely between communities.
[15] In turn there were many further pioneers such as Charlotte Mason, Caroline Southwood Hill and Susan Sutherland Isaacs.
Correspondence colleges, latterly online course providers began to make an appearance with Wolsey Hall, Oxford established in 1894 [16] being the oldest.
The Hadow reports (1923–1933) with their suggestions such that "a good school 'is not a place of compulsory instruction, but a community of old and young, engaged in learning by cooperative experiment'.
[19] During the early 1950s Joy Baker became one of the first parents to abandon the school based education system in favour of the otherwise path.
[citation needed] The meeting included Iris and Geoff Harrison whose fight with the authorities to home educate their five dyslexic children was widely publicised in the media at that time.
In 2009, Ed Balls,[22] the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, commissioned Graham Badman, the former Director of Children's Services at Kent County Council,[23] to review current practice of local authorities in relation to home educators, and to investigate if home education was used as a cover for some forms of child abuse.
[26] It criticised both the Department and the Badman Review and made a number of recommendations against the thrust of the original report.
Although the Department framed legislation to implement much of the review,[27][28] due to a lack of cross-party support and intense campaigning by home education advocacy groups it was dropped by the Labour administration in the run-up to the 2010 General Election.
Home educating parents are not required to teach the National Curriculum; provide a broad and balanced education; have a timetable; have premises equipped to any particular standard; set hours during which education will take place; have any specific qualifications; make detailed plans in advance; observe school hours, days or terms; give formal lessons; mark work done by their child; formally assess progress or set development objectives; reproduce school type peer group socialisation or match school-based, age-specific standards (section 3.13).
The only exceptions to some of the above are certain cases of children with special needs where the local authority is charged with providing support.
Many local authorities find this a frustrating conflict and have often complained about their lack of power over home educators.
[35] On numerous occasions, as with Kent County Council, [5] home educators have had to fight back to avoid local authority interference.
Across the UK, including in Scotland and Northern Ireland, local groups of home educating parents run regular meets, events, trips, picnics and camps.
[citation needed] There are other meets such as the annual AEFES (Alternative Education Festival) which is based in East Sussex UK and is organised by HE children and families.
There are approximately 500-1000 home educated children in Northern Ireland, but exact numbers are difficult to determine due to the lack of registration.
The largest Home Education group in Northern Ireland, HEDNI is actively involved in opposing this change in policy.