Parents have the right to choose to educate their child at home rather than at school. This is known as elective home education (EHE). We recognise that families choose home education for a variety of reasons and respect the important role parents play in their child’s education.
Parents’ responsibilities
If you choose to educate your child at home, you are responsible for ensuring they receive an education that is:
- suitable for their age, ability and aptitude
- appropriate for any special educational needs they may have
- efficient and enables them to make progress
- full-time, although this does not need to mirror school hours, term dates, timetables or the National Curriculum
Home-educating parents do not need to be qualified teachers and are not required to teach the National Curriculum. However, they should be able to demonstrate that a suitable education is being provided.
Devon County Council’s responsibilities
Devon County Council has a legal duty to identify children who may not be receiving a suitable education. To fulfil this duty, we:
- maintain contact with families who elect to home educate
- seek information about the education being provided
- offer opportunities to discuss a child’s learning and progress
- provide information, advice and signposting where appropriate
- work positively with families to understand how their child’s educational needs are being met
Our role is not to inspect home education or to require families to educate in a particular way. We aim to work collaboratively and respectfully with parents while ensuring that all children receive their entitlement to a suitable education.
School Attendance Orders
Where we have not received enough information to demonstrate that a suitable education is being provided, or if there evidence that a child is not receiving a suitable education, we will work closely with families to resolve this.
This may include serving a formal notice requiring parents to provide information about their child’s education. If, after this process, we remain unsatisfied that a suitable education is being provided, we may issue a School Attendance Order (SAO) requiring the child to be registered at a named school.
A School Attendance Order is a measure of last resort and is only considered when efforts to work with a family have not resolved concerns about a child’s education.
Changes to national legislation
National legislation about children not in school is changing. This may introduce new duties for local authorities, schools and parents, including a Children Not in School register and additional requirements before some children can be removed from a school roll.
We will update this page when any new duties come into force and national guidance is confirmed, so families have clear and up-to-date information.
Working together
We are committed to building positive relationships with home-educating families. Our aim is to work in partnership with parents, recognising their rights and responsibilities while ensuring that every child has access to a suitable education and opportunities to thrive.