Will you speak up on behalf of Aussie homeschoolers?

[caffeineandbooks]

My home state of Queensland, Australia is in the process of introducing new legislation that will have negative effects for homeschoolers.  It's open for public comment at the moment, and anyone can have their say.  You don't need to be an Australian citizen, or an adult, or a homeschooler.  The parts that many homeschoolers object to are:

* A new requirement (section 217) for us to follow the National Curriculum, as is already required of homeschoolers in many Australian states.  The National Curriculum is much narrower that homeschool curriculum I am aware of - it doesn't fit with Story of the World, Writing With Ease, Writing With Skill, etc.  It will require my kids to all study history, science etc separately as they will have to complete the content for their individual grade level - Ancient Egypt is for Grade 7, not Grade 6 or 8.  It also doesn't suit kids who are gifted, asynchronous or with learning difficulties (so, most homeschoolers) because it assumes a classful of same age kids working at an arbitrary given level in all subjects.  For older kids who might be doing dual enrolment, it appears to accidentally cancel that option (university study is not one of the approved options listed).

* An expanded requirement to report on 8 subject areas per child every year.  Currently, I submit a plan for each of my kids and someone from the Department assesses whether it will provide a "high quality" education.  At the end of the year I report back with work samples in English, Math and one other area of my choice.  When the consultation paper was released in 2022, the Department was suggesting they were snowed under and that although we should continue preparing reports, they should only have to read 1 in 8 (!!).  Enrolments have continued to grow and staff numbers have not, yet now they want to more than double the amount of reporting and have it keyed to curriculum standards as well.

* A new requirement that children remain enrolled in school until the Department has assessed and accepted the parents' plan for home education.  This is not a big deal for continuing or intentional homeschooling, but parents who need to suddenly remove children due to bullying or other school trauma previously had the option to keep them home while their application was processed.

* A new requirement that homeschooling be "in the best interests of the child", without defining who gets to make that call.  Worth noting that there is no comparable clause requiring state education to be in anyone's best interest.

Would you be willing to make a submission to the Parliamentary Committee responsible for this legislation, telling some of your own homeschooling story and asking them to listen to the Queensland homeschooling community?

You can follow the "click here to make a submission" link on the Parliamentary Committee's webpage, here.

You can see an explanation of the changes and how homeschoolers could be affected, put together by parent volunteers, here.

[Ausmumof3]

FWIW, we have that system in SA and it’s really a non-issue. They do not check you follow the curriculum as long as you have something that approximately fits in each subject criteria. That said, the QLD education department tends to be a pain so if they write it into law they’ll probably make your lives miserable with it.

[bookbard]

3 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

FWIW, we have that system in SA and it’s really a non-issue.

Same in NSW. The only thing that seems different is the 'best interests of the child' thing and that is pretty vague - how would they define it? But none of the other stuff is onerous at all in practice, there are still plenty of people unschooling in NSW, and I know people whose kids basically did no written work all year and the only comment they got from the dept was "you need to do some writing - here's some ideas". There are just so many homeschoolers and so few visitors that they can't put a lot of effort into it, I find. And in terms of 'you can't pull them out before they're assessed', well again that's the rule in NSW and I did and plenty of other people do. 

I remember years ago Victoria moved from basically no regulation to regulation - it would be interesting hearing from people there as to how it went. 

[Melissa in Australia]

I am in Victoria

It really was no issue here. You need to register for homeschooling and make an educational plan for each child for the year. Only if it is the child's first year of homeschooling does it need to be Sent in, otherwise you need to store it

We are to loosely follow the state curriculum but it doesn't have to be exactly on that grade. It could be doing Egypt next year or foreign language only ever second year or maybe not at all because of the unique needs of the individual child . Schools do this all the time  and they don't expect homeschoolers to do more than schools

as long as some evidences of education choices is documented and stored in case you are audited.

 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

@caffeineandbooks

Thank you for raising this.

I'm in Queensland also, and I homeschooled through the HEU for 9 years. We were lucky enough to navigate the system when getting a QCE as a homeschooler was much more doable, and programs such as Unilearn gave credits towards the QCE. 

I realise that a lot has changed in just a few years, and it seems more changes might come.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out and what the proposed new rules actually look like in practice. I'm really hoping the reality isn't too grim for those of you still homeschooling.

[caffeineandbooks]

Thanks fellow Aussies, I hope you are right.  I suspect, though, that Queensland is going to try to become the new record holder for tightest regulation of home education.  Over the weekend, we've become aware of a report in the background that seems to have prompted this.  Two years ago, a child known to the Department of Child Safety committed suicide after repeated attempts and a stay in a mental health unit.  The death was investigated by the Child Death Review Board and it was noted that the child was homeschooled.  The Board recommended that Queensland strengthen its legislation so that children known to Child Safety could be refused registration for home education on the grounds that it was not in the best interests of the child, and also recommended there be a means for government representatives to interview home educated children to be sure they are not being harmed.  Home education is a legal choice in Queensland, but that didn't stop the Government spokesperson at this morning's public briefing from admitting that the Government wants to look into the increased uptake of home education "and change that uptake".