Education Otherwise

Elective home education (EHE) is a growing trend across the UK and internationally. EHE is a policy arena where parental rights, children’s rights and the duties of the state have tended to produce relations of conflict.

EHE families themselves can be hard to reach. Building relations within and across stakeholder groups to share research and practice warrants collaboration and dialogue between local authorities (LA), existing grassroots organisations and charities.

With the Children Not in Schools register and prospective changes to LA duties, the need to review existing engagement practices between LAs and EHE families and identify any future training needs, was pressing.

The Open University (OU) academic team of Dr Amber Fensham-Smith and Dr Alison Fox, partnered with the charity Education Otherwise (EO) to:

• review evidence and identify models of good practice
• consult with families to generate good practice case studies for familial engagement
• explore the design, use and purpose for a ‘primer’ course for EHE stakeholders

Using an evidence-based approach to close the divide between home educating families and public bodies depends on building trust between academia and home education communities. Being involved in this project; sharing and disseminating good practice helped us extend the impact of our existing work.
Wendy Charles-Warner
Chair of Education Otherwise

Education Otherwise’s needs

Education Otherwise works to raise awareness that education is compulsory, but school is not. We support and promote parents’ rights to provide their children with the best education as individuals. Our services are currently provided in the face of a widening divide and loss of trust between EHE families and public body stakeholders, leading to tensions. Increasingly stakeholders seek to address these tensions, without a clear frame of reference for what constitutes good practice.

The Knowledge Transfer Voucher Project

The OU's research expertise provided a means for EO to bridge, share and translate ‘stories of what works’ into a tangible resource, to promote good practice. Working with the OU made us appreciate the benefit of training to multiple stakeholders and helped us to play a role in changing the narrative.

The OU:

• conducted a review of existing good practice models and family engagement research within the broader Alternative Provision sector
• consulted with six LAs in England and Wales
• analysed community needs through engagement with researchers and members of The Centre for Social Mobility, University of Exeter, The Centre for Personalised Education and The Association of Elective Home Education Professionals
• designed and chaired three community consultation workshops with new and experienced EHE parents across England and Wales
• agreed to co-author and share with stakeholders, an evidence review report

This project has acted as an important stepping-stone in harnessing stakeholder engagement, collaboration and the evidence needed to improve engagement between EHE families and LAs.

The Open University‘s Dr Amber Fensham-Smith
Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies, WELS

Project benefits

This Knowledge Transfer Voucher scheme:

• raised awareness of the challenges, opportunities and training needs of LA engagement with EHE families
• shared it’s findings with members of the UK Government’s Education Committee as part of their ongoing Home Education Inquiry in March 2021
• enabled further engagement with the Department for Education
• supported evidence-based practice; case studies that showcase good practice will be produced and shared with stakeholders
• enhanced academic understanding of the content, needs and audience for a new area of prospective micro-credential development.

About Education Otherwise

Education Otherwise is a grassroots charitable organisation which has been supporting EHE in the UK since 1977. The charity provides advice to families, LA officers, schools, and other agencies. EO trustees operate a national helpline and house a repository of resources and links to over 44 local, regional, and national community networks and family support groups for EHE.

Through this work, EO aims to promote, maintain, and improve public awareness of EHE through the provision of information and resources to enable families to make educational provision for their children otherwise than through state-maintained or private educational settings.