Dr Harriet Pattison is amongst those concerned that there will be knee-jerk policy changes around home education founded on misunderstanding and without evidence. Home education is misunderstood by policy makers, local authorities and by the public and subject to constant reviews and attempts to control.
Dr Pattison, an expert in home education and author of Rethinking Learning to Read, a book on how children learn to read outside of the school system, says that home educators are caring resourceful parents but are often misrepresented.
‘Home education offers them a flexibility and freedom to tailor education to their child, to play to their strengths, engage their interest and to harness their motivation.
‘My research on learning to read at home revealed myriad routes into reading and the ability of families and children to be creative, imaginative, flexible, and to have fun.
‘My research, and that of others, shows home education is viable and successful. Rather than vilify it, we need to learn more about it and more from it.’
‘School is a standardised approach but it doesn’t churn out a standardised product. Home education is really able to offer an education that suits that particular child at that particular time in his or her life; it is able to celebrate uniqueness.
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