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Home Education: A Desperately Dangerous Notion?

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International Perspectives on Home Education

Abstract

Research shows that parental involvement in children’s education is the greatest indicator of good attainment (Desforges and Abouchaar, 2001). This finding is supported by Sylva et al. (2003). Further, the economist Professor Layard has written about the economic value of happiness (Layard, 2003). Home-educated children are known to receive a great deal of parental involvement in their learning, and research shows that happiness is a notable characteristic of home education. Home education brings families a level of freedom and flexibility that extends beyond education into a way of life, such that, whatever their initial reason for home educating, this becomes a lifestyle decision (Neuman, 2004). We know that love motivates children (Gerhardt, 1994), and this can be interpreted in terms of parental involvement. Parental input can involve as little as just being there for their child, answering or helping to answer questions as and when they arise and facilitating resources and activities. Back in the 1980s, Jack Hughes and Barbara Tizard wrote their seminal book, Young Children Learning. Tizard and Hughes (1984) found that parents had the advantage of understanding the context of their children’s lives in a way that teachers were not able to. In the last lines of their book they write:

Indeed, in our opinion, it is time to shift the emphasis away from what parents should learn from professionals, and towards what professionals can learn from studying parents and children at home. (Tizard and Hughes, 1984: 267)

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Authors
  1. Paula Rothermel
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Editor information

Paula Rothermel (leading scholar in the field of home education (home-schooling), Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and Elected Associated Fellow of the British Psychological Society (ABPS)

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© 2015 Paula Rothermel

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Rothermel, P. (2015). Home Education: A Desperately Dangerous Notion?. In: Rothermel, P. (eds) International Perspectives on Home Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137446855_14

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