Andrew Turner, the Island’s MP, has spoken up this week for the rights of those who educate their children at home. Speaking during the Second Reading of the Children, Schools & Families Bill he pointed out that schools are not the only way to deliver education and that many children thrive under the flexible and responsive approach to education delivered at home.

Just before Christmas Mr Turner met a group of Island home educators and he recounted in his speech how one mother told him that at a week’s notice she organised a trip to the Brading Roman Villa at short notice after her son developed a keen interest in Roman history – which would have been impossible in the more rigid environment of a school. The Island’s MP also outlined his worries about the Bill extending the influence of the state further into people’s lives with the Government aiming to give powers to local authorities to monitor and intervene in relationships between parents and children.

Mr Turner said:
“Education is the gateway to a better world – but not all routes should be the same. It is ultimately parents rather than the state who are responsible for the education of their children – that principle seems to have got lost somewhere in this Bill. The Secretary of State for Education, Ed Balls MP accepts that the ‘vast majority’ of home-educating parents provide a good education for their children, then failed to explain why he was giving local authorities powers that are more suited to safeguarding rather than educating children. This Bill is well meaning but deeply flawed. The Government should be urgently addressing the problem of the vast numbers of children in schools that are failing to achieve the results they are capable of. Similar concerns were echoed from Members of all political parties, so I very much hope that this Bill will be improved as it goes through the Committee stage where it is examined line by line.”
END Contact : Andrew Turner’s office 01983 530808

Link to Debate : http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm100111/debtext/100111-0014.htm#10011130000031