After a consultation in 20181 which raised the prospect of government oversight of Sunday schools, the government published the results, a response and an action plan on its Integrated Communities Strategy on 9 February.
The consultation asked questions around out-of-school settings and education, which would include both church youth work and home education.
In its action plan, the government states: ‘We will finalise and publish revised guidance on home education, following the consultation on the drafts, which will explain clearly to both local authorities and parents what their respective rights and obligations are, including making clear to local authorities how they are able to tackle poor elective home education more effectively.’2
The consultation on home education closed in July 2018.3
Helping parents?
The Green Paper had proposed that it would ‘help parents choose’ out-of-school settings by introducing guidance for parents. This guidance is to be tested in ‘a number of pilot areas’ and will follow later in 2019 after another consultation on it has closed.4 As en went to press it was awaiting a response from the government ministry as to where these areas will be.
The ‘quality assurance arrangements’ will be voluntary. It is worth noting that governments have not always proved to be reliable in keeping to assurances around ethical issues.5
