Posts Tagged ‘home schooling’

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Waterloo Road and Home Schooling

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

A new series of Waterloo Road started on BBC1 last night and it was disappointing to see it relying so heavily on negative stereotypes about home schooling.

It’s the first day of a new school year at the progressive comprehensive and one of the new arrivals is Ruth who has been home-schooled for quite some time by her divorced father. Ruth is only back in mainstream schooling because of pressure from her mother. It is clear that this is a highly dysfunctional family (or ex-family) and home-educated Ruth is portrayed as arrogant, over-confident, mouthy and devious. She dominates her first English lesson, dismissing TS Eliot’s The Waste Land as “simplistic”.

The script implies very clearly that these character flaws are the result of her isolating home-schooling experience.  She is very unhappy to be back at school, attempts to get expelled and is a problem for the new head teacher (Amanda Burton) in all sorts of ways. Before the end of the first episode, she has run away and had to be rescued from the  freezing moors amidst much melodrama.

We can be fairly sure that if Ruth reappears in subsequent episodes, we will see the socialising influence of school life as she matures into a kind and sensible young lady. The message will be that she is much better off in school than while she was being “hot-housed” by her father.

All this may make good television drama but it is a world away from the typical family that takes on the challenge of home schooling.  Although there are a small number of single parents who home-educate their children, it is much more likely that the mother and father are still very much together and equally committed to home education. Home schooling is not associated with dysfunctional family situations, quite the contrary.

Home-educated children do not turn out to be arrogant and sociopathic and there is no reason why home schooling should be an isolating experience. There is a strong and mutually supportive community of home schooling families out there as well as any number of other “normal” opportunities for children to integrate with their peers. They usually emerge from the experience balanced, resourceful and independent, but every child is different.

It would be good to see some positive and accurate depictions of home schooling and its effects in the media but perhaps they do not make such exciting television. It is to be hoped that Shed Productions, who are responsible for Waterloo Road, will offer a more constructive perspective in future episodes.

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Ofsted and Children “missing” from Education

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Today Ofsted has published a report called, without any apparent irony, ‘Children Missing from Education’. Anyone involved in home education will find its assumptions and conclusions highly questionable, at the very least.

The summary of the survey reads as follows:

‘Ofsted’s latest survey highlights the challenges local authorities face in identifying and tracking children who are missing from education. Children missing from education, and whose whereabouts become unknown, not only risk failing academically but are also potentially vulnerable to physical, emotional and psychological harm.

‘The Children missing from education report surveyed 15 local authorities of different sizes across England, in both urban and rural areas. It found that none of the authorities felt confident that they knew about all the children living in their area in order to fulfil their duties to keep children safe.’

The first and most obvious point to make is that although some children may be (shamefully!) missing from certain local authorities’ records, this does not mean they are missing from education. On the contrary, we can be sure that many of them are receiving a full and carefully-constructed education within the home environment.

At Oxford Home Schooling, we are supporting thousands of students in this category, most of them working successfully towards Key Stage 3, GCSE and A-level qualifications. Some of these youngsters have been assisted by their local authorities, others have been studiously ignored.

We are not aware of a single home-learner who is “vulnerable to physical, emotional and psychological harm”, although one can never be complacent.  We work closely not just with the students but with their families and in the vast majority of cases, the families are close-knit, supportive and conscientious in their commitment to a high-quality education within the home environment.

Once again the tragic case of Khyra Ishaq is hauled into the debate, e.g. in the BBC’s report on the Ofsted survey, as if the tragedy would have been averted if the local authorities had had slightly different powers. In that case, the authorities had enough information and enough power to intervene but, for various reasons, did not do so in time.

The obvious lack of education taking place was the least of the apparent problems.  But the authorities had the power to ask the Ishaq family to demonstrate that full-time and appropriate education was in place and, if evidence was not forthcoming, to issue a School Attendance Order. This seems to me to be an appropriate set of safeguards and procedures and it is a shame that they were not observed. For Ofsted to claim that local authorities are unable to deal with home-educated children is disingenuous in the extreme.

Ofsted are best known for their inspections of schools so it should come as no surprise that they are in favour of inspection of homes where home education is (or is not) taking place. At a time when a new government is putting quangoes to the sword,  or, worse still, sending them to Coventry, it is understandable that it should seek to appropriate yet more powers and generate the work that might save a few of their own jobs.

But they are unlikely to get their wish. This is partly because of the near-universal hostility to the idea of inspection amongst the bona fide home-schooling community (e.g. HEAS).  Perhaps more importantly, the timing is all wrong. The Labour government, during three terms in office, might have sought to apply the same level of bureaucratic control to home schooling as it has done to other aspects of education, but it did not do so in the end.

The Con-Lib coalition has a a very different philosophy. At a time when the government is seeking to reduce cost, bureaucracy and the “nanny state”, it is highly unlikely to tamper with the delicate balance of freedoms, controls and responsibilities which is currently applied to the home education sector. In that context, Ofsted’s report will be pereceived as an empty gesture.

Our experience at OHS is that local authorities vary enormously in their treatment of home learners.  Some do not even have the mechanisms to find out from the schools involved that a particular pupil has been withdrawn. It would be a good idea to put effective systems in place, right across the country, to  ensure that schools do  always share this information. Home-educating families can then be positively supported rather than suspiciously monitored and inspected. But there is a world of difference between the provision of resources, tutors and perhaps even funding and the kind of unwelcome control that Ofsted offers.

(Dr) Nicholas Smith,

Principal, Oxford Home Schooling

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In praise of distance learning

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

In today’s Guardian, Jonathan Woolf reviews the history of distance learning in the UK and the article has been given the somewhat misleading heading:

‘Distance learning: good on costs, not so good for social cohesion’

The sub-heading is also an inaccurate summary of the article that follows:

‘The danger of distance learning is that it may make second-class citizens of students who choose it’

On the contrary, Woolf’s article celebrates much that is good in the history of open learning, notably the contribution of London University’s external degrees. As one who taught on one of these distance learning programmes (via Wolsey Hall, one of its long-lasting agents), I can vouch for their importance in helping learners, in a wide variety of personal situations, rise the social and academic ladder.

Nelson Mandela was one such student in an earlier era but by the 1980s, the London degrees were very much in decline, at least in the UK. The reason was simple – the programmes were not funded in the same way as the Open University.  The latter’s operation was hugely subsidised by the state while London’s far-flung students were generally in receipt of no financial support at all and generally having to pay the full market rate for whatever teaching and textual support they could find.  As far as HE distance learning was concerned, the Open University was granted a virtual monopoly and they have done a great job with that opportunity.

Social isolation is a relative term and these days distance learning is a much less isolated affair if only because technology enables easy and speedy contact between students who are geographically separated.  Distance learners are encouraged by organisations like Oxford Home Schooling and Oxford Open Learning to integrate themselves into the wider community of learners and to share their learning experiences. There are chatrooms and blogs and virtual learning environments where friendships can be made and common interests shared.

Of course, the opportunities could be better still. We hope that the government will embrace the ethos of distance learning, and not just at a Higher Education level.  At modest cost to the state, huge improvements could be made in the infratructure and affordability of distance learning and lead to a revival of the idea of lifelong learning.

Distance learning can help to make first class students of us all.

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Funding for Home Schooling?

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

With a new government now in office, it is a good time to reconsider the case for government funding for home schooling.

At the moment, funding via the Local Authority (LA) is only available in exceptional circumstances, for instance that the child has special educational needs.  The Dept of Education has  confirmed that this situation has not altered:

“The current financial responsibility for home educated children has not changed, namely, that parents who choose to electively home educate their children assume financial responsibility for their education. ”

As the number of home-educated children has grown rapidly over the last five years, the previous government (after the Badman Review) put forward plans to monitor home-schooled children and there is no doubt that the present government also feels compelled to ensure that there is adequate control over this growing sector. A commitment to funding would demonstrate a greater acceptance of the validity of home education and a desire to facilitate improvements in the educational experience of the home-schooled.  In time, it would stimulate the development of more effective published resources, more varied and systematic teaching resources, technological advances, etc.

The new government has already shown a  commitment to academies and ‘free’ schools, enabling parents to group together to set up a new instituation, with the promise of funding to come.  The home-schooled may not have a central meeting place or regular classrooms but they are an educational grouping which is analogous to a school and just as much in need of institutional support. So funding should be available for them too.

Education Otherwise is one organisation which represents the interests of the home-schooled via the Freedom for Children to Grow Campaign for Home Education, and we are happy to join with them in lobbying for the effective funding in future for the home schooling of children, particularly between the ages of 11 and 16 when it is vital that effective teaching programmes are put in place.

As well as putting our views to Michael Gove, the Minster for Education, it may be worth making a case to Nick Gibb, the Minster of State for Schools, whom the Dept of Education has confirmed has responsibility for home schooling.

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Wimbledon Hopefuls and Home Schooling

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Wimbledon is upon us!  Here at Oxford Home Schooling we have a number of young high performance tennis players who are studying our KS3, GCSE and A level courses, hoping that they too will one day be Wimbledon players. As members of the LTA, they receive a 10% discount on all our materials.

With high demands made upon their time, studying by distance learning is often the only option flexible enough to accommodate the players’ coaching commitments and tournament schedules, as well as being able to achieve formal academic qualifications. At some stage in their future, whether due to injury or retirement, it may be important to have qualifications to fall back on.

Currently 18 High Performance Centres (HPC’s) and 4 International HPCs such as Gosling Sports Park, Welwyn Garden City  provide a high quality performance training environment for players predominantly aged 16 and under. These ensure they have access to tools needed to fulfil their potential, which includes being able to combine education and full time tennis. There are also a number of Independent Tennis Academies that provide a combination of an intensive tennis programme and academic study.

Players often study through distance-learning programmes offered by Oxford Home Schooling. They may benefit from a dedicated study environment at the tennis centre, with sessions carefully structured into their weekly schedule. An academic mentor or manager may oversee the programme.

The tennis players study the structured course materials (predominantly KS3, GCSE and IGCSE’s) provided by Oxford Home Schooling and will also have the advice and support of their subject based tutors, who can be contacted by telephone and email and who mark assignments on a regular basis. There is also ample support and guidance given on any coursework requirements and the examination procedures. Summer exams can prove difficult if they clash with tournaments, but IGCSE exams can also be taken in January.

Laura Robson has studied and taken her English GCSE through Oxford Home Schooling. Yesterday, the 16-year-old gave Jelena Jankovic, the World Number 3, one heck of a game, banging down numerous aces and coming within a couple of points of taking the second set. We feel sure she will be a star in years to come but a well-rounded education will also help her career.

A number of other students who excel in specialist areas such as drama, dance, music, golf, swimming and show-jumping, also study through Oxford Home Schooling as they do not have time to attend full time education. Distance learning offers them the most flexible option.

Sue Ray
Home Education Co-ordinator
Oxford Home Schooling
01865 798022
sue@ool.co.uk

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Too many parents failing to read to their children

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

A recent study by the National Literacy Trust has found that nearly nine in ten young people in the UK own a mobile phone, while only just over seven in ten have books of their own at home.

This has sparked a debate about the importance of books in the home, where the foundations of literacy are laid.

According to researchers, the presence of literature in the home has a profound effect on all families, irrespective of parental occupation or social class. This suggests that filling homes with a range of novels and reference books may make the difference between leaving school at 16 and progressing on to A-levels and University. It found that being raised in a household with a 500-book library would result in a child remaining in education for an average of three years longer than those with little access to literature. Even having as few as 20 books in the home can still have an impact.

Children are twice as likely to read outside class if they are encouraged to read by both their mother and father. Two in ten young people don’t get any encouragement to read at all from their mother and four in ten don’t from their father. The extent to which parents create a home environment that encourages reading has been found to have a significant influence on academic attainment.

Children who read above the expected level for their age are more likely to have books of their own at home; 80 per cent of high-achievers have books of their own, while only 58 per cent who read below their expected level do so.

Jonathan Douglas, National Literacy Trust director has said that:

“By ensuring children have access to reading materials in the home and by encouraging children to love reading, families can help them to do well at school and to enjoy opportunities throughout their life.

“Involvement with reading activities at home has significant positive influences not only on reading achievement, language comprehension and expressive language skills, but also on pupils’ interest in reading, attitudes towards reading and attentiveness in the classroom.”

Read the full article here. The National Literacy Trust is determined to increase opportunities for parents to support their children’s reading.

This month they have launched the Tell Me a Story campaign to raise awareness of the importance of family literacy and to raise money to support their work with families in disadvantaged communities across the country. It is encouraging parents to read to their child for 10 minutes a day every day.

Literacy is not simply an issue for developing nations; it is the UK’s most pressing educational challenge.

The new coalition government has said that improving literacy will be a priority. This is great news and the National Literacy Trust hope that their Tell Me A Story campaign will raise awareness of the role of parents in supporting schools in addressing this challenge.

Want to improve your library at home? Need some ideas? Take a look at Cool Reads which gives suggestions for hundreds of cool reads for 10-15 year olds, reviewed by 10-15 year olds.

Also, why not take a look at the English KS3 courses offered by Oxford Home Schooling, split up into years 7, 8 and 9 with a variety of texts to read for each year.  There is also an interesting range of English and English Literature GCSE and IGCSE courses.

Parents who promote reading as a valuable and worthwhile activity at home have children who are motivated to read for pleasure, as well as giving their children the best start in life.

Sue Ray
Home Education Co-ordinator
Oxford Home Schooling
01865 798022
sue@ool.co.uk

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IGCSE and GCSE: what’s the difference?

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

The recent announcement by Education Secretary, Michael Gove, that state schools will be able to offer IGCSEs (International GCSEs) from September 2010 raises a couple of key questions: ‘what’s the difference between a GCSE and an IGCSE?’ and ‘why has the government given the green light to IGCSE qualifications in state maintained schools?’

What’s the difference between a GCSE and an IGCSE?

General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations (GCSEs) were introduced in 1986 and replaced the previous GCE ‘O’ Level and CSE systems by merging them together.   Coursework became a new feature of assessment, one that teachers rightly regarded with scepticism.  The recent introduction of controlled assessment for coursework attempts to overcome the issue of coursework authentication by making coursework supervision compulsory.

While many employers only recognise A*-C grade GCSEs, others have criticised the qualification as lacking in challenge for more able pupils.  With more and more students achieving A grades, the GCSE exam is widely perceived as getting easier and easier, and lacking an ‘absolute standard’.  GCSEs are offered in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland with Scotland offering its own system of qualifications.  Click here for a full account of the background, controversies and national statistics for GCSE.

IGCSEs were introduced in 1988 and are internationally recognised qualifications. Candidates can sit IGCSE examinations all over the world.  Offering over 70 subjects, IGCSEs are taken in over 120 countries. IGCSEs do not include coursework.  Similar to GCSEs, they are perceived by some as academically more rigorous, and for this reason have recently been adopted by over 300 independent schools in the UK.  In Febuary 2009, 16 Cambridge IGCSE syllabuses received accreditation from Ofqual, the government body that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England.  IGCSEs are widely accepted by universities and colleges as part of their entry requirements.  IGCSEs are offered by Cambridge and Edexcel exam boards and you can find more information about them on the webpages linked here.

Why has the government given the green light to these qualifications?

As part of its shake up of national qualifications in which academic diplomas are to be dropped, the government is to allow IGCSEs to be taught in state schools.  Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, said that

“schools must be given greater freedom to offer the qualifications employers and universities demand, and that properly prepare pupils for life, work and further study.”

“For too long, children in state maintained schools have been unfairly denied the right to study for qualifications like the IGCSE, which has only served to widen the already vast divide between state and independent schools in this country.

“By removing the red tape, state school pupils will have the opportunity to leave school with the same set of qualifications as their peers from the top private schools – allowing them to better compete for university places and for the best jobs.”  (BBC News, 7 June 2010)

Where can I study for IGCSE qualifications?

IGCSE qualifications are ideal for those wanting to study for national qualifications by distance learning.  Without all the administrative problems that encumber GCSE coursework, IGCSEs offer a practical way forward for those studying at home as assessment is by written exam at test centres world-wide. If you need qualifications to go to college or university, apply for a professional or vocational course, or need say, Maths or English GCSE or IGCSE to apply for a job, then IGCSEs will help you achieve your goal.  At Oxford Home Schooling we offer IGCSEs in

  • Maths
  • English
  • History (Modern World History)
  • Geography
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Accounting
  • Business Studies
  • Economics

Our new courses in Biology, Chemistry, Human Biology, Physics and Science will become available by the end of 2010.  Contact us if you would like to talk about the qualifications you need to move forward.  Your call is free.

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Free “Schools” for the Home-Educated

Friday, May 28th, 2010

Should home-educated children enjoy access to a free education? Just because they no longer attend their local state school, should this mean they have forsaken all rights to low-cost or free educational resources? We at Oxford Home Schooling do not think so.

With the arrival of the new government, there has been renewed talk that parents (amongst others) will be empowered to set up their own schools and be in receipt of state funding.  Plenty of parents and businesses would be interested in trying.  But it is easy to underestimate just how difficult it would be for a goverment to introduce such a scheme. It takes years, decades  even, to build an effective school, even with the most dedicated professionals involved.  A good school is not going to appear overnight and the government is not going to fund thousands of small, ill-conceived schools on the off-chance that some of them will come good in the end.

At best, it may be possible to draw on existing specialised provision within the private sector and bring that into the mainstream. That could certainly be to the advantage of the home education sector because almost all the support organisations, like Oxford Home Schooling, are in the private sector. Such organisations could offer hugely improved facilities if they had additional funds to work with. This might include much more extensive contact with personal tutors, a broader choice of reources, much better use of “expensive” online facilities, and so on. This would help to put home-educated children on a level playing field with their peers in mainstream schools without compromising their much cherished independence.

But we will not be holding our breath. The days of an Oxford Home School nurtured and funded by the state are still a long way off!

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Is your money well spent? Distance learning in today’s market place

Friday, May 28th, 2010

A recent edition of the BBC’s Money Programme  reported on a sharp rise in complaints about distance learning courses. Students are increasingly turning to distance learning courses as a means to achieve new qualifications and skills both to enter, and re-enter, many sectors of employment.  For many, the decision to study for qualifications is a key investment in their future, and they rightly expect a course to deliver on its aims. 

What’s going wrong? 

Over the past year, however, Citizen’s Advice has received over 4,000 complaints about distance learning courses, a 61% increase over the previous year.  In many cases training providers’ claims to deliver high quality learning but the opportunity to achieve good results is not borne out by the course materials or tutor support.  The Trading Standards Institute has investigated complaints which include instances of plagiarism – where course materials are simply cheaply produced copies of self-study books sold over the internet for exorbitant prices -, and others where tutor support is either poor or non-existent.  Dissatisfied students are being encouraged to take action under the Supply of Goods and Services Act, and educational charities are now calling for government regulation of private training providers.

Why is the problem getting worse?

In the current employment market many are keen to broaden their range of employable skills and therefore the demand for training is increasing.  To meet this demand, there is a mass of information available online about training courses, some of it accessible via a helpline on the BBC’s own website.  The databases of training courses that can be consulted online, for example, the government-funded database at www.hotcourses.com also accessible at www.advice-resources.co.uk allows all private, as well as, public sector training providers to upload details of their courses, but the sites themselves give no indication as to the quality of the training provision, provider, course materials, or tutor support.  The information provided is not moderated, nor are there any onsite reviews or evaluation of the courses described.  Is this helpful?  How can users distinguish the good from the bad?

What can you do?

If you are thinking about signing up to a distance learning course, look carefully at training providers’ organisations, course descriptions, tutor support and course materials; ask lots of questions before you sign on the dotted line.  Read the  blog on this site ‘Choosing a course’ : this gives advice on how to ensure that you are choosing the right course for you.  Make sure that the course you sign up to offers:

  • high quality materials (at Oxford Home Schooling you can look through the entire course and return it to us if you are not satisfied, and we will refund you your money);
  • fully qualified, experienced teachers to support you in your learning (all our tutors are fully qualified, experienced teachers of their subject);
  • help with finding a test centre and applying for exams (at OHS we have a dedicated exams officer)
  • someone to turn to when you need advice about your course (at OHS we have a team of student advisers)
  • help with submitting coursework for assessment (at OHS our exams officer and her team will check that all your papers are in order)

At Oxford Home Schooling we have over twenty years’ experience in delivering high quality courses that successfully deliver national qualifications to both adults and younger learners.  For more information contact us, or visit Oxford Home Schooling.  We trust you won’t have cause to complain!

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Distance learning route to training in remote regions

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Postbox and road sign at junction to Mull of Kintyre

Postbox at junction to Mull of Kintyre

An article in yesterday’s Guardian ‘Distance learning provided training for would-be nurses in remote regions’ illustrates how distance learning with the Open University has enabled former healthcare assistants, some with family responsibilities, to obtain nursing qualifications while living in remote areas.  From the Mull of Kintyre to the Channel Island of Jersey students are now able to gain full nursing qualifications by distance learning. 

Without distance learning as an option, none of those who successfully qualified as nurses would have been in a position to study and qualify.  All confirmed that with self-motivation, commitment and good time management they were able to combine the demands of work, family life and study to achieve their goals.  Most importantly, each received the support of a fully qualified, experienced tutor, together with that of a course mentor who offered advice and support throughout the entire period of study. 

If you live in an area or region that makes it difficult to follow a course of study by attending school or college then Oxford Home Schooling can help you achieve your goal.  Our GCSE, IGCSE, A Level, business management, accountancy training, and Certificate in Educational Administration courses have made it possible both for adult individuals and families who are home educating their children to study from home.  

We know that studying at home takes self-motivation and commitment to succeed. But we don’t expect you do go it alone. Like the trainee nurses mentioned in The Guardian, Oxford Home Schooling students receive support from a fully qualified experienced tutor, a student adviser, and a dedicated exams officer to help them make the most of their course of study.  We do our best to help you succeed, and we hope our students will consider us as part of their valued small community. 

Whether you live in the heart of the city, or miles from the nearest shop, distance learning with Oxford Home Schooling is easily accessible by phone, email, online or in print.  Contact us for information about how we can help you gain the qualifications you need.  The door is open.

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