A review of home education in England will be recommending that there should be a national registration scheme for home educators, forcing parents to register with their local authority.
The government set up a review to find out how effective local authorities are in monitoring home educated children and whether home education was being used to hide, “child abuse such as neglect, forced marriage, sexual exploitation or domestic servitude”.
At the moment local authorities must ensure that all children are getting a suitable education, either in or out of school, but they have no statutory duty to monitor children who are taught at home.
Ann Newstead, for home education group Education Otherwise, said: “If one thing could come out of this review which would mean it was not a complete waste of public money, it would be that the decision to home educate is treated with respect and as a positive choice.”
Surprisingly no-one seems to know how many children are being educated at home; figures vary from 20 000 to 80 000.