Home educating your child Scotland
Educating your child at home may be the right option for them, but it's vital to understand what that entails before making any decisions.
Here we look at why you may choose to home educate your child, what it in involves, the law and specific advice for Scotland.
We also talk about socialising, exams and tutors.
Choosing home education
Home educating your child is a huge responsibility, but you do have the right to do this. Parents choose to educate their autistic child at home for various reasons, including:
- their child may have sensory needs that make a school environment noisy, distracting or even painful to them. They may find it hard to concentrate or behave in the way school expects, which may then stop them from reaching their full potential
- their child may not be able to cope with the social aspects of school life
- they may feel their child's needs are not being recognised or supported at school
- they feel they can provide a more appropriate education.
Many autistic children do succeed in school and benefit from the support of dedicated staff, such as learning support assistants. But some find it difficult due to the emphasis on social interaction and group learning.
What home education involves
There are different approaches to home educating, ranging from self-directed learning to more structured teaching.
Home education and the law
Parents are legally responsible for educating their child. This can be done by sending them to school, but home education is an equally valid and lawful choice.
If you choose to educate them at home, the education must be suitable to their age, ability and aptitude. Any additional support needs that they have must also be considered.
If your child is not enrolled at school, you don't have to inform your local authority or education authority that you are educating your child at home. However, they might contact you to ask how you are educating your child.
There is no legal duty for your local authority or education authority to monitor your child's education at home routinely. Informal enquiries and annual updates should suffice, unless there are valid concerns about your child's education or wellbeing.
Home education in Scotland
If your child is already enrolled at a local authority school and you wish to remove or de-register them in order to begin home educating you must ask for consent from your local authority. However, they mustn’t withhold consent unreasonably.
How to home educate
The law does not define how you should home educate. Most schools follow the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland. This sets out the stages and core subjects your child would be taught at school. Some autistic children can find this way of teaching too rigid. However, when you design your child's education, you can concentrate more on the particular needs and interests of your child.
You may decide that you should spend more time on subjects that your child doesn’t do well in. We use the term 'subjects' loosely here. It does not necessarily refer to the areas covered by the Curriculum.
Your child may benefit from less conventional education such as visits to leisure centres, classes at other education settings, trips to historical places, botanical gardens, art galleries, zoos and other community-based learning opportunities.
Although the term 'home education' is commonly used, a child may be taught at home for just part of the time. This means that you’re able to combine academic lessons with self-directed learning where your child can explore their interest independently.
You also don't need to follow the hours of the standard school day, giving you the flexibility to plan the day around when your child is most open to learning or when then may have a hospital or therapy appointment.
Whatever 'timetable' you finally choose, you will need to make some specific decisions such as whether to home educate your child throughout their school life, or just for a short time.
You may feel that your child will benefit from a period of home education, but go back to formal education at a later date or at another level.
For further information or advice on home education please contact our Education Rights Service.
Exams
Legally, no-one has to take any exams. If you decide to enter your child for exams, you will need to discuss whether your child goes back to school to prepare for them, or whether they are going to study for them at home. Parents need to make the arrangements for their child to sit exams if they are home educating.
Exams are based on the curriculum, so familiarise yourself with any changes to the curriculum to ensure that your child is well prepared. You can find information about exams on the Scottish Qualifications Authority website and our pages on exam guidance.
Socialisation
Home education can better suit autistic children and young people as they don’t have to spend the school day in social situations.
However, you may want to ensure that you child has opportunities to meet other children and develop their social skills. Here are some ways you can help:
- watch their social interaction carefully and plan how you can support them
- act out role play situations with them, explaining how and why people acted in a particular way
- try using a social story or comic strip conversation to see if that helps develop their social understanding in a structured way.
Our charity provides autism specific out of school clubs and social groups around the UK. We also have local branches that often provide social opportunities for autistic children and young people.
You can find other services in your area by searching our Autism Services Directory or you can find out more about what help and support is available.
Tutors
If you decide to use a tutor to educate your child, we advise that you check that tutors have experience of teaching autistic pupils. You should also make sure that they have an up-to-date Criminal Record Check (Scotland).
Here are some tutors you can contact, although this is not a recommendation:
Further help from our charity
Read our pages on communication
Useful links
Home education guidance Scottish Government (2007)
Schoolhouse - home education support charity
You can also search online for books and educational games specifically designed for use with autistic children.
