Educating children at home Broadcast 9.4.

84, Radio 4, Womans Hour Released by Arrangement wit "nter#rises $imited I = Interviewer B = Bruce Cox I

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%ow educating c ildren at ome is somet ing t at a##arently twice t e number o& #arents are ta'ing on t an used to be t e case. (ts been estimated t at about ),*** c ildren are being taug t at ome wit out going to sc ool. +"ducation ,t erwise is t e name o& one organi-ation o& #arents w o.e ta'en t is ste#, and Bruce !o/ is one o& t eir members. Hes 0oined me in our studio wit 1une 2is er, w os Head 3eac er o& !at&ord !ounty 4c ool, t ats a girlscom#re ensi.e in sout $ondon, and ( 'now 1une is &amiliar wit w ats calleddesc ooling c ildren &rom a teac ers #oint o& .iew. Bruce, &irst o& all, its not against t e law, is it, to ta'e your c ildren out o& sc ool or not to #ut t em in sc ool5 %o,its ... its um ... ! ildren must be educated, according to t e 6944 Act, but w et er you educate t em in sc ool or ot erwise, is a matter &or #arents to c oose. %ow, ow a.e you done t at wit your c ildren, and w y a.e you not send t em to sc ool5 Well, we a.e t ree c ildren, none o& t em went ... a.e been to sc ool until .ery recently, w en t ey started at ... um ... to go to a small ... um ... sc ool t ats run by a co7o#erati.e grou# o& #arents. 3 at is an alternati.e sc ool5 An alternati.e sc ool, yes, a #art time sc ool really. We didnt send t em to sc ool in t e &irst #lace &or a .ariety o& reasons. (t wasnt a sudden, big, dramatic decision. And we reali-ed t at "leanor would a.e to be bussed o&& to a remote ... um ... sc ool, t at we would say goodbye to er at eig t ocloc' and see er again ... at ... sometime a&ter al& #ast &our. 8m ... we didnt li'e t at. We ...wed been in.ol.ed in #laygrou#s, and ad a #retty clear idea o& w at went on in in&ant sc ools and &elt ... well, we werent #articularly ostile to sc ool in some res#ects, um ... t at we could do 0ust as good a 0ob. And we .ery muc en0oyed a.ing our &amily all toget er at ome. %ow your boy is ) and your girls are 9 and 66. 9o t ey a.e a curriculum at ome5 We dont a.e a curriculum in t e sense o& ... um ... er ... an organi-ed #rogramme o& wor' t at we solidly go t roug . 8m ...we.e done a certain amount o& more organi-ed mat s, but most o& t e t ings we do arise out o& t e ordinary business o& day : to day li&e and res#onding to t eir interests and ;uestions. !an you gi.e me an e/am#le o& t at5 Well, it may be t at er ... t ey may be interested in growing somet ing in t e garden, so t ey may a.e a #ot o& land t at t ey can grow t ings in, and ... see t em come u#. (t may be t at t eyre interested in drama, so t ey go along and 0oin a drama club, and e.entually t ey are in.ol.ed in some 'ind o& #roduction. (t may be t at er ... "leanor and <adeleine are, t at t eyre .ery interested in gymnastics, so again t ey go along to a club and en0oy t at.

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3 at all sounds rat er lo.ely. ( mean ( would a.e lo.ed to a.e been educated li'e t at. But w at about t e t ree Rs, reading, writing and arit metic5 ( mean, ow good are t ey at doing t ose t ings, and are you con&ident t at t eyre 'ee#ing u# wit t eir sc ool #eers5 Well t eyre #er&ectly um ... t eyre #er&ectly ,= as &ar as reading and writing are concerned, t oug we.e been muc more a##y to lea.e t e direct teac ing o& it to a later #oint in t eir li.es t an #er ar#s would a##en at sc ool. But ( t in' t at as wor'ed out .ery well. 4o youre suggesting t at #er ar#s t eyre not ;uite u# to t eir #eers in terms o& writing. , no, ( t in', ( t in' t at t ey are, but ( t in' t at we a.e le&t it until a bit later er ... to introduce direct teac ing to t em. >oure a ;uali&ied teac er, Bruce. W o does all t e teac ing at ome5 Well, t is as largely been t e res#onsibility o& my wi&e, w o isnt a ;uali&ied teac er, and ( would ... sort o& asten to add you dont a.e to be a ;uali&ied teac er to educate your c ildren at ome. <ost #eo#le w o do educate t eir c ildren at ome arent ;uali&ied in any way. W en you were at sc ool, w at were your own &eelings about sc ool5 ( wonder i& w at your c ildren are underta'ing now stems &rom some sort o& &eeling about sc ool t at you ad5 %o, ( dont t in' it stems &rom anyt ing t at ( e/#erienced at sc ool in itsel&. ( t in' it stems #artly &rom my e/#erience as a teac er. At sc ool ( was ;uite success&ul, ( ;uite en0oyed it. ( did t in' t at it was .ery de#endent on t e +carrot and stic' moti.ation. But could you get e/#ert el# i& you &elt t at you werent ca#able o& ta'ing a c ild u# to mat s or "nglis , or A le.el5 !an you go outside educating your c ild at ome &or e/#ert el#5 3 is costs money sometimes, #resumably. "rm ... Well, certainly i& youre doing corres#ondence courses it costs money. ( dont t in' t e costs is e/orbitant, but it does costs money. ( t in' t at we would easily underestimate t e immense reser.es o& e/#ertise and good will t at e/ist in a community once you start trying to dig it out. 3 e range o& #eo#le t at a.e el#ed us, or been #re#ared to el# us or a.e el#ed ot er &amilies. ?eo#le are delig ted t at somebody comes along and as' t em &or 'nowledge to be s ared t at t ey a.e.