164 pages
234 x 156mm
November 2010

Thousands of children in the UK and millions in the USA are educated at home by their parents. The book presents an overview of the phenomenon of elective home education in the United Kingdom contrasting it with the situation in the USA. It examines the history of the practice and discusses why more and more parents are choosing not to send their children to school.

Exploring the background of the home education debate. Simon Webb considers why many education professionals are often uneasy about its growing popularity and why so many home educating parents are hostile to the idea of local authority registration and monitoring. From the safeguarding concerns which prompted the Badman Report on elective home education in 2009, to the desire of autonomously educating parents to be left completely alone, the book provides a comprehensive account of this increasingly controversial matter.

With the law on home education about to change so that local authorities will for the first time be legally obliged to register and supervise home educating families, this objective survey of the current state of play is much needed. The author identifies key areas of conflict between home educators and local authorities and suggests ways for these to be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.