Ofsted renews calls for elective home education register

The inspectorate’s Annual Report 2020/21 highlights a rise in the number of EHE pupils across all year groups since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This year, school and local authority leaders told us about a significant increase in pupils being removed from school to be home educated,” the report states, citing figures released by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services which showed a 38 per cent rise in the number of children being home educated in 2020/21 compared with the previous year.

• Analysis: Clearer sight on home education

• Analysis: Rise in home schooling prompts concerns

• Practice: Lessons for successful home schooling of children with SEND

“Almost three fifths of school leaders we spoke to in the autumn term had at least some parents who wanted to home educate temporarily due to the pandemic,” Ofsted’s report states.

However, it notes that current data held by the inspectorate means that it cannot track the whereabouts of pupils who leave school for “unknown” destinations which include home-schooling, independent schools, unregistered schools and moving overseas. 

Between January 2020 and January 2021, 33 per cent of pupils who left their school moved to one of these ‘unknown’ destinations, compared with 29 per cent the year before, according to the report.

Speaking at a press briefing about the report, Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said she had “long called” for a register of children being home educated.

“This is something I’ve been an advocate of for a long time,” she said, “because we do not know who these children are or where increasing numbers of children are.

“Increasing numbers of children being moved to ‘unknown’ destinations are at growing risk of harm and are vulnerable. We need to be able to keep track of them to keep them safe.”

Ofsted’s report also highlights an increase in referrals to children’s services for children with “significant or acute needs” after schools reopened.

The calls come just weeks after Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi backed the introduction of a home education register.

He told MPs that the government would set out its plans for registers by the end of the year.

Increased absences from face-to-face teaching for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), is another concern raised in Ofsted’s report.

“It is notable that parents of children with SEND were the most likely to keep their children out of school, because of concerns either about the virus or – justified or not – that the school was unable to meet their child’s needs,” the report states. 

It adds that when schools reopened following the third national lockdown on 8 March this year, attendance levels were “still especially low for pupils with SEND”.

“Despite the best efforts of leaders, some parents remained worried about sending their children in,” it said.

In its recommendations, published as part of the report, Ofsted states that “support for the most vulnerable children and those with SEND must rapidly return to pre-COVID levels”.