How is my child being educated?

How is my child being educated? It is a key question for all parents and carers.

A few statements:

• Education matters.

• Education is not the same thing as schooling.

• Education is changing.

• Qualifications matter as passports to next steps.

• Education is more than gaining qualifications

• Schools are at the centre of education in our country

• Schools are definitely not the only places where education happens.

• Full-time attendance at school is becoming less possible for many children and less desired by many families.

  
  

So "How is my child being educated?" .... the individual needs of each child matter. One-size fits all for educational provision has gone, if it ever existed. Families, schools and wider society have to work together to answer the question "How is each child best educated?"

So what might that mean in practice? A few pointers....

• The government is right to prioritise inclusive mainstream provision. Our schools are centres of community and social cohesion. They have a symbiotic relationship with their communities: learning from, challenging and changing each other, All children in a community have a right to education commissioned by the school in that community;

• Families need to have a much more prevalent voice in education at a local level. They have a right to express a view on how their children are best educated. They are entitled to remove their child to educate them at home if they wish. Careful collaboration with the school should be encouraged even if the family are committed to home schooling;

• Health, social care and education must work together with the families to embed educational provision within the wider framework of society. Schools should be at the centre of a network of support and provision.

• For a growing number of children, full-time attendance at school is not productive or even possible. Flexible, individualised patterns of provision and attendance are required. This requires close and careful co-operation with families and external agencies. Flexi-schooling, appropriate alternative or specialist provision, online learning are all part of the picture.

• Schools need to support and link with elective home education. Schools have physical resources that can and should be used to support the education of all children in their area. This should not just apply to those who attend full-time.

• All children and young people should have the right to be assessed for qualifications in their nearest school. Qualifications are important and access to them should not be denied to those who are educated in other ways than full-time school attendance.

Our schools are at the heart of their communities. They must be empowered and enabled to work with families to answer, for each and every child in the community, "How is this child being educated?"