Give councils more powers to monitor home schooling, says LGA

The plea by the Local Government Association (LGA) follows a damning Ofsted report in June, which said urgent action was needed to tackle illegal schools, where children are taught by unqualified teachers in poor conditions.

The inspectorate identified 150 illegal schools but blamed "professional incompetence and insufficient resources" among councils for failing to intervene.

In response to the report, the LGA blamed councils' lack of legal clout for any failure to act, and called on the government to change legislation so that local authority officers would have the power to enter homes to check that a suitable education is being provided.

Currently, they can only enter premises if they have concerns about a child's safety.

As well as cracking down on illegal schools, such extended powers would also help monitor the quality of home schooling, with the LGA also calling for parents to be compelled to register home-educated children.

A clearer legal definition of "school" would also make it easier for the government and Ofsted to close illegal schools, which the LGA says can have links to extremism.

Richard Watts, chair of the LGA's children and young people board, said: "The vast majority of parents who home educate their children do a fantastic job, and work well with their local council to make sure that a good education is being provided.

"However, in some cases, a child listed as home schooled can, in fact, be attending an illegal school.

"The ability to enter homes and other premises and speak to children would go a long way towards tackling the problem."

He added: "If councils have powers and appropriate funding to check up on children's schooling, we can help make sure children aren't being taught in dangerous environments, and are getting the education they deserve, while standing a better chance of finding and tackling illegal, unregulated schools more quickly."

However, Edwina Theunissen, trustee of home schooling charity Education Otherwise, has condemned the proposals as using a "sledgehammer to crack a nut", adding that the LGA is wrong to "lump home-educated children in with these illegal schools".

She added that "the extra cost of all this totalitarian policing of home educators" needed to be considered "at a time of austerity for local authorities".

Instead, she said councils should be investing more time in addressing why children are turning to home schooling due to bullying and stress in mainstream education.

She added: "Imagine how further traumatised children would be if people are determined to come into their home."

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We recognise parents may choose to home school their children and many do a good job, but it must be of a suitable quality. That's why we have taken steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people, while at the same time safeguarding the rights of parents to determine how and where to educate their children.

"We are also clear that unregistered schools are illegal and unsafe and we are cracking down on them. We have announced an escalation of Ofsted investigations into unregistered schools, with additional inspectors dedicated to rooting them out, a tougher approach to prosecuting them and a call to local authorities to help identify any settings of concern."