Homeschooling in Past Decades – The Journey to Acceptance

Homeschooling has been around for a very long time, but for an almost equally long time there has been a push back against it from the “establishment”. In particular, there were numerous legal battles over home education in general, from the 1970s onwards.

Before this era, home education was generally considered eccentric at best and borderline illegal at worst! Local authorities even made the argument that it was psychologically damaging. As recently as 1970 it was asserted that homeschooling was a form of harmful over-coaching, and many experts were of the belief that high-pressure workloads imposed by parents directly caused “nervous illnesses” and coordination issues, especially in younger children.

At this time, attendance at school was mandatory, and therefore those people who wished to homeschool their children had to do so with the risk of being prosecuted or fined for truancy. Some even had their children removed by social services!

It’s worth noting that although under the Education Act 1944, parents needed to make sure their children were educated “by regular attendance at school or otherwise” (which you might think should be interpreted as “either at school or at home”) the “otherwise” was largely viewed by Local Education Authorities as to be used by wealthy parents who could afford professional tutors. At this time, families would have to be far wealthier than average to afford such a service. Meanwhile, those parents who tried to educate their children themselves at home were generally viewed by the Local Education Authorities as negligent and were often subject to prosecution as a result.

In 1976 the Education Otherwise group was founded, to pool legal resources and support families who chose to home educate their children, either themselves or with the support of tutors. As time went on the group expanded significantly and it still exists today as a registered charity that continues to support and inform home educators.

Eventually, due to the Education Act 1996, the right to home educate was set into law, keeping the mandate that a child must be educated “at school or otherwise”.

Even so, there were further battles ahead, and dangers from politicians who wished to oversee home education. In 2009 the Labour government of the time commissioned the Badman Review, which made strong recommendations for compulsory home inspections by the state along with mandatory registration. However, the government was eventually forced to scrap these almost Orwellian proposals as a result of well-orchestrated campaigning by home educators.

Even today, there can be stigma from certain quarters wherever homeschooling is discussed or brought up as a topic. However, the home education community is incredibly strong and determined, and it’s worth noting just how many huge strides have been made towards universal acceptance since the dark days of the last century.

If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of home education, we have a page all about it here.