Homeschooling in Spain

Complete the gaps in the text with an appropriate word.

There is a bit of a grey area, as homeschooling is not explicitly forbidden in Spanish legislation.
There is an obligation that children (1)______________ the ages of 6 to 16 receive an education. In
the Spanish Constitution Freedom of Education is recognised, but on the other hand, there are
no national regulations for Homeschooling in place.

Some parents have obtained special permission for their child to enter into a Home Learning
plan combined with high level sports education for example, which would make it impossible to
(2)_______________ regular schools.

There are cases of people getting fined for homeschooling, mostly when kids have been taken
out of school and the school did not agree and denounced the parents. There are also cases of
parents (3)_________________ obtained the cooperation of the local school, and those who never
registered their children in the Spanish school system.

Isabel Rodríguez decided to pull her then nine-year-old son Ulises out of the school system and
homeschool him instead – an alternative chosen by more than 2,000 families in Spain, who are
calling for a law that would (4)_______________ the legal vacuum surrounding the growing
phenomenon.

In Spain, 10 years of education are compulsory. This is generally understood to mean school
attendance, but there is (5)______________ law that clearly states that homeschooling is illegal. In
Europe, homeschooling is legal in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The phenomenon is most widespread in the United States, followed by the UK. It is illegal in a
number of European countries, including Germany and Sweden, (6)___________ the authorities
have gotten tough on homeschoolers in recent years.

A member of the Spain-based Association for Free Education (ALE) who preferred to remain
anonymous claimed that in this country there are some 2,000 homeschooling families, and that
the number is (7)_____________ as more and more people find out about education at home.

One ALE mother who homeschools her three children aged three to seven said that
(8)___________ the stereotype that families choose homeschooling for religious reasons, those
who practice it are actually a broad range of middle-class families, with different philosophies
and methods.

While some parents completely teach their children themselves, others hire tutors. There are
couples who decide from the start never to send their children to school, (9)__________________
others come to homeschooling because their children have attention deficit disorder problems,
are failing classes, are being bullied at school, or have special education needs.

Homeschooling families are also demanding that their children be allowed to earn the ESO –
compulsory secondary education – diploma at age 16, like everyone else. Currently,
homeschooled youngsters have to wait until they are18 to (10) ________________the exam.“It is a
totally unjustified two-year penalty that keeps these people from continuing their higher
education studies merely due to (11)_______________ tape,” said Moles, author of the book “No
quiero ir a la escuela” (“I don’t want to go to school”).

One of the strongest criticisms against homeschooling is the (12) ________________of socialisation.
But Moles argued that “we parents are more concerned than anyone that they form
relationships,” which is why the children go to after-school classes and workshops and are fully
integrated in their communities.