FROM VOIRREY BAUGH – ISLE OF MAN
Our freedom to home educate is under threat in England and Wales and the Isle of Man. Plans for updated guidance and or legislation will impact on home educators across Britain as Governments bow to pressure from local authorities and others to regulate and control ‘education otherwise’.
Home education is just that – education that takes place at home and is inseparable from our private and family life. Any plan for the Government to require sight of our children’s education, whether in the form of a compulsory register or rights to information or inspection of our children, breaches our Human Rights.
British law makes it the duty of parents, not the local authority, to ensure that the education of their children is suitable. The local authority can only get involved ‘if it appears’ the education is not suitable. It has always been that way.
Any attempt to change either guidance or law is simply the thin end of the wedge and could lead to home education being monitored, controlled, inspected and restricted in ways that makes it intolerable for children and families.
In the Isle of Man the Home Education community is tiny, there are only 57 home educated children on the entire island. There has never even been a school attendance order, yet the Government has jumped on the bandwagon with updated guidance and the threat of legislation. The case against any change in either guidance or legislation is even stronger here than elsewhere, but the fight is harder due to very weak compliance with Human Rights Legislation.
Please help us, and all home educating families, by contributing to a fund to raise £3000 for a legal opinion that will clearly explain to all Governments that rights to home educate free from reporting, control, interference and inspection are protected under the Human Rights Act. https://www.gofundme.com/protectallhomeeducationrights
The report will be available online to home educators to use in their fight to keep the law as it is and ensure that any new guidance fully respects our Human Rights.
Voirrey Baugh
Tristram Llewellyn Jones
Maria Ullaytt
