Local authority leaders are calling for an elective home education (EHE) register, after latest Department for Education figures revealed that more than 100,000 children were estimated to be home schooled during the last academic year.
The publication of the DfE data, which estimates that 116,300 children were in home education at any point during the 2021/22 academic year, was welcomed by council leaders as a vital first step, but many are continuing to push for the creation of a national register of all children in home education.
Heather Sandy, chair of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services’ (ADCS) education policy committee, said: “The number of children who are known to be electively home educated has been increasing significantly, year-on-year, even before the pandemic struck. We need more than just an estimate of how many children are being educated in this way to keep them safe and to ensure they receive the education they deserve.
“Whilst a register in and of itself will not keep children safe, it will help to establish exactly how many children are being educated other than at school and to identify which children are vulnerable to harm.
