The Government is ringing line-up-time for us all
I was born, I learned to walk, I went to nursery, finished primary school, and then all of a sudden, I was deregistered. My parents allowed me the guided choice of whether I wanted to continue to high school or to be home educated. I thought, why wouldn’t anyone rather stay at home than be in school? Recent statistics show that more and more families are electively deregistering from school to be home educated; approximately 115,542 children were being educated at home in 2021, about a 34% increase from the previous year.
Many people are interested in what it is like to be home educated, and ask; why is it becoming more popular? Well, it is student-led, which means learning is tailored to one’s own needs, interests and personal development. While it is illegal for schools to not abide by the UK National Curriculum, home educators and their students can freely choose to follow it or create their own path. Reading poetry amongst flowers in the garden on a warm sunny day appeals to many as a liberating ideal.
As a result of the National Curriculum being a legal requirement in schools, measurement systems of education have grown into an excessive exam culture. Meeting objective requirements and grades is now at the forefront of schools’ purpose. This has lead to an uprising anxiety among children and teenagers; the education depression is upon us. An NHS report found that the mental health of six to sixteen year olds has deteriorated by 39.2% and of seventeen to twenty-three year olds by 52.5%.
While mental health is being addressed more by teachers, parents and schools, there is still an immense amount of pressure put on children to be ‘successful’ that is causing them to doubt and stray from their education system. This is one of the many reasons why families feel homeschooling takes a weight off their shoulders. But in light of the new schools bill announced in May 2022, the freedom to move away from an education structure that doesn’t suit you is being stripped away. Parents and guardians are losing their right to provide their children with an education they believe is appropriate. The bill allows local authorities to issue a School Attendance Order to home educated children based on an opinion of what an “efficient, full-time and suitable” education is, which is ultimately indefinable.
The Government is ringing line-up-time for us all. We are losing our autonomy; they are making it harder and harder to choose our own learning path. Everyone is put into the same system, there is no attention to individuality, and this is why more and more people find themselves unsatisfied when they get to the working stage.
Sir Ken Robinson explains in his TED Talk ‘Bring on the learning revolution!’ that “We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture.” For change to happen, there needs to be a philosophy underlying how we teach our children; the word ‘philosophy’ is translated from the Greek phrase for “love of wisdom”. But where has our love of wisdom gone? What inspires our children to enjoy not only what they learn but the process of how they learn?
Dr Josh Forstenzer from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Philosophy, in anticipation for his conference event ‘Philosophy in Schools: Enriched Curriculum, Enriched Lives’, said: “In our age of post-truth politics and increasing political polarisation, philosophy can be a transformational path to rekindling public dialogue and bolstering reflective civic agency among the young.” If we have a philosophy in our education, we have philosophy in our people, politics, society and government.
However, this is easier said than done, as the number of elected MPs who attended private, paid-for schools is continuously increasing. With the appointment of Rishi Sunak as PM, his Cabinet consisted of 65% privately educated people, only a fraction less of Liz Truss's cabinet which consisted of 68%. Both failed and continuously fail to represent the majority of England who attend public schools.
There is an immense amount of negative attention directed toward what the Government calls “Children not in school” (i.e. home educated children), because they aren’t required to follow the National Curriculum. Private schools aren’t required to follow it either, yet no one questions it because in this world money is power.
How then, can we expect our Government to understand and provide for working class needs and rights? People are calling for revolution. Across the country, people are demanding Enough is Enough and joining the campaign to fight against the cost of living crisis. It goes beyond this though, and we must also be saying enough is enough to the school cycle of creating a ford line of workers.
Creativity is being killed because of it. There isn’t the flexibility we need to take daring and innovative risks in our learning. If we carry on like this, our initiative to learn will slow. Our enthusiasm to ask the big questions will dissipate. The radical – and importantly poor – Greek philosopher Diogenes didn’t tell Alexander the Great to “Stand out of my light,” for nothing. Money is power only if we let it be.
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