Ofstead gearing up to inspect Home Educators?

November 2nd, 2009

We hear from Ralph Lucas, the following:

Ofsted inspects provision for Home Education
Ofsted are setting out to inspect home education in 15 local authorities. As part of this exercise they will be approaching some parents.

I trust Ofsted to keep whatever they are told in confidence, and not to pass it on to the LA ever, at all, in any way.

I am not happy though with the secrecy with which Ofsted is surrounding its investigation – which LAs, which parents will be talked to, etc. I have put down some questions to see if I can open them up. Nor am I confident that Ofsted understands home education – but talking to more HE parents and children should help.

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http://daretoknowblog.blogspot.com/

Secret inspections?

The most sick part of this is that it is no surprise. That is how far everything has sunk.

Of course, Ofsted has no remit to inspect and monitor PRIVATE PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN HOMES. Lets look at their ‘about’ page shall we?

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. We regulate and inspect to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages.

Standards in education really means standards in the provision of education in schools. The activities of Home Educators are beyond their remit.

Parents are also nothing to do with ‘Children’s services’ parents do not provide a ‘service’ to children. This is all just TOO ABSURD.

They conspicuously leave out WHAT they regulate and inspect; it should say that they inspect schools and other orgainzations that provide education.

We want to raise aspirations and contribute to the long term achievement of ambitious standards and better life chances for service users. Their educational, economic and social well-being will in turn promote England’s national success.

They are pretty much failing in all of this, as is evidenced in the epidemic of illiteracy and innumeracy that is plaguing the UK. They are not raising aspirations, they are not contributing to the long term achievement or ambitious standards and better life choices of an army of failing students.

To achieve this we will report fairly and truthfully; we will listen to service users and providers; and we will communicate our findings with all who share our vision,

And they will not communicate with those who do not share their vision. This is why they are conducting these inspections in secret.

from service providers to policy-makers. We do not report to government ministers but directly to Parliament (and to the Lord Chancellor about children and family courts administration). This independence means you can rely on us for impartial information.

If this is really the case, and their independence and impartiality can be relied upon, then they should immediately come clean about these secret inspections.

  • Who ordered them
  • Who authorised them
  • How they are selecting families to speak to
  • What is the aim of the exercise
  • Why was it kept secret

For a start.

The Education and Inspections Act, which established the new Ofsted, specifically requires that in everything we do we should:

promote service improvement

Nothing to do with Home Education, which is not a service.

ensure services focus on the interests of their users

Nothing to do with Home Education; children are not users and nor are their parents.

see that services are efficient, effective and promote value for money.

Nothing to do with Home Education the efficiency, efficacy or value for money of Home Education is nothing to do with Ofsted or the state in general.

We carry out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits each week, publishing our findings within the Inspection reports area of this website. Our themed and subject specific findings and recommendations on wider issues within the care, learning, and skills agenda, as well as statistical information, can be found in the Publications and research area.

Nothing to do with Home Education.

And you can find more detailed explanations of which services we inspect and regulate, and how, and the latest guidance documents in the Forms and guidance area.

Who we are and what we do
To find out more about what we do and how our work is helping to improve outcomes for children and learners, please see the Ofsted: who we are and what we do leaflet and the two Raising standards, improving lives booklets available via links on the right.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/About-us

No thank you.

Putting on our ‘what if’ hat, we can speculate that Ofstead wants to get a new role as inspector of Home Educators in the new totalitarian regime designed to crush Home Educators. Because they already have ‘hundreds of inspections each week’ perhaps they think they can tack on the task of forced invasions of people’s houses.

No matter what agency they throw at Home Educators, the response remains the same. You may not enter a Home Educators home, Home Educators will not communicate with, respond to or in any way acknowledge or engage with anything or anyone that attempts to violate and monetize their children and lives.

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