The rate at which children left the classroom for home education doubled last year, with big increases in some of the country’s most deprived areas, a Schools Week investigation suggests.
And while home education was previously seen primarily as a lifestyle choice, parents are now increasingly withdrawing their children because they feel the school system has failed them.
Analysis of freedom of information data from around two thirds of councils suggests around 140,000 pupils nationally were home educated at some point in 2022-23, a rise of 12 per cent on the 125,000 the year before.
This is double the 6 per cent rise from 2020-21 to 2021-22. The number of children now in home education is 80 per cent higher than in pre-pandemic 2018-19.
