Too many children are being home schooled in England out of “desperation” because parents feel there is no alternative, according to the head of Ofsted.
While countries such as Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Sweden ban home schooling, the UK has some of the most relaxed regulations in Europe.
Any parent can decide to home school their child as long as they are giving them “a full-time education from the age of five”. Parents do not have to follow the national curriculum, and there is no requirement to register a child as home schooled with a local authority.
In England, the main reasons cited by parents are the child’s mental health (14 per cent), philosophical reasons (14 per cent) and lifestyle (9 per cent). Dissatisfaction with schools, be it because of bullying or special needs provision, make up 13 per cent, according to government data.
While many parents do a brilliant job home schooling their children, others use Britain’s lax rules as a way of taking their children out of the system, but provide little education. The child can easily become isolated from their peer group unless an effort is made to socialise with their age group.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is at the report stage in the House of Lords, will create a national register for home-schooled children. Parents of those subject to child protection inquiries and plans will need local authority permission to withdraw their children from school.
These safeguards were proposed after Sara Sharif, ten, was tortured and murdered by her father, Urfan Sharif, and her stepmother, Beinash Batool. Sara had been taken her out of school in Surrey despite concerns about her safety.
Initially Batool would put make-up on Sara’s bruises to conceal them, then Sara began wearing a hijab. In April 2023, Sharif told the head teacher that he would be home schooling his daughter with immediate effect. She was found dead in August that year.
Sir Martyn Oliver, chief inspector for Ofsted, said: “Parents have got a right to educate their children at home and some do it brilliantly, but I’m really bothered about those who are at home educating because they don’t think there’s any mainstream or specialist provision which meets the needs of their children.
“There’s a lot more to schools than just academic knowledge. It’s the interaction with your peers and growing up and socialising. It’s a huge part of the week.”
In 2024-25, 111,700 children in England were officially home schooled, up from 80,900 in 2022-23, an increase of 38 per cent. The numbers are believed to be an underestimate because home schooling does not have to be registered. This will change under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
However, England will remain one of the most liberal countries in Europe for home education. In Portugal, for example, a parent teaching their child needs to have a university degree. Since 2022, home schooling in France has been severely restricted because of concerns that children were falling under the influence of “Islamist extremism”. There are only a few exceptions to the rule, including for elite athletes and those with serious health conditions.
Oliver said there were “multiple reasons” why parents decided to home school, adding: “[It’s] because of a curriculum gap, because of a behaviour gap, because of an attendance gap. There are too many parents who are finding that the system isn’t working for them and are withdrawing their child from the school system, not by choice but by desperation.”
Online schools — where a child is educated usually at home, but logs into lessons — say unmet special educational needs, anxiety and emotionally based school avoidance (pupils with severe anxiety about school) are among the reasons to learn remotely. Their cohort also includes young, elite athletes or the children of parents who travel a lot, typically for their jobs.
Two online schools, King’s InterHigh and Minerva Virtual Academy, said a third of their pupils had special educational needs (34 per cent and 35 per cent respectively), compared with 20 per cent nationally.
From Monday, Ofsted will begin publishing new inspection report cards for schools. Rather than giving schools a single one-word judgment such as “good” or “outstanding”, they will score six core categories such as attendance and behaviour; achievement; personal development and wellbeing, and inclusion. The scores will range from “exceptional” to needing “urgent improvement”. There will be no overall judgment.
The inclusion category will look at how well schools are meeting the needs of all children, including what adjustments they make to help keep pupils in school.
Oliver said they would look closely at schools in areas with high numbers of home schooled children and those “missing in education” entirely, which refers to children of school age who are not registered at a school or for home schooling. They are registered with the NHS when they are born, but then either never go to school, or were excluded from school and never went to a new one.
Sir Martyn Oliver
SUNDAY TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
On top of the 112,000 children who are home schooled, Ofsted estimates a further 39,000 are “missing in education” and 41,000 are on part-time timetables, when they only go into school for shorter hours or fewer days. For example, some are gradually reintegrated after illness or a period of absenteeism.
Last month Ofsted’s annual report raised concerns about children “with unorthodox patterns of education, such as flexi-schooling and part-time timetables”. About 166,000 children are severely absent and miss more than half of school days, three times the level before the pandemic.