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“Widening Home Education Opportunities at the Open University”

The OU region of London, which in the past refused to accept under 16 year olds, has accepted a home educated child after it was pointed out to them that it was contrary to the new Age Discrimination Act not to do so. This could mean an end to the postcode lottery faced by home educated young people wanting to enrol in OU courses.

Meanwhile, the Wales region of the Open University receives a thumbs up. It has led the way in taking a flexible and supportive approach to the inclusion of home educated young people under sixteen over at least the last four years and without any pressure from legislation.

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“Facebook profiles used by admissions tutors”

The Guardian is running a story that the admissions tutor of Emanuel College, Cambridge University has stated that he checks up on prospective candidates facebook profiles. Cambridge University are playing down the admission as a throwaway remark in the college magazine, but that's of little consequence – if true. In writing the article he clearly had no appreciation of the implications of his actions.

The reason why this is important is that young people's FB profiles often include information of a deeply personal nature that, if known by admissions tutors, would breach university equal opportunities policies. They could, for example, give away people's racial origins in photographs, political affiliations, sexual preferences and information about extended families etc.

If this ploy has occurred to a Cambridge university admissions tutor, it will have certainly occurred to many employers.

It is advisable that all young people making applications for work or study, or indeed any other activity, consider very carefully what they allow the public to see and read on any on line profile, particularly those on the newly developing social network sites. It should be borne in mind that once out there, information about yourself cannot be easily recalled. What someone says when they are 16 can effect them for life. Take for example Gordon Brown's musings about school.

Link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jan/11/accesstouniversity.highereducation

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“Lower School Leaving Age Proposed”

The head of Birmingham City Council, the UK's largest education authority, has said that some children should be able to leave school at 14 to pursue a trade as they would clearly be better off doing so as they were sometimes better suited to apprenticeship learning.

This is the diametric opposite of the policy recently announced by the DCSF which will raise the compulsory education age to the last day of June in the year during which they attain 17 by 2013 and their 18th birthday by 2015.
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Children are Unbeatable! Alliance

It is legal for parents and some other adults to hit or hurt their children to punish them.

The Children are Unbeatable! Alliance think this is wrong. We want to change the law so that nobody will be allowed to hurt children and we want young people to work with us!

We are starting a new young people's campaign and are looking for young people to get involved. This is a great opportunity to work with other young people to change the law and make a difference. We think the law should change because...

*Hitting children to punish them can be painful and embarrassing.
*It's against the law to hit adults. We think children should be equally protected.
*The United Nations and the Council of Europe say that it should be illegal to hit children.
*Children have human rights, including the right not to be hit.
*Lots of other countries have already made it illegal to hit children.

We want young people to be involved because:

*The law is about young people.
*We think that people in power should listen to what young people think.
*We believe that young people can make a difference.

You could get involved by joining our campaign group:

If you live in or near London, and want to work with a group of other young people to change the law, we are looking for you!

Some things the campaign group might do are: meeting people in the government, thinking of ways to publicise the campaign, writing to newspapers to explain about why they think the law should change.

If you become a representative you will work to tell other young people about us, for instance by putting up posters, giving out leaflets and asking people to join the alliance.

Joining the Alliance:

If you join, we will let you know what we are doing and how you can help.

We treat all young people with respect and listen to what you say. We will pay for travel expenses and we organise training if you need it.

To find out more, see our website:

www.childrenareunbeatable.org.uk/children

Children's Campaign Co-ordinator,
Elinor: phone/text: 07504 738 741

[email protected]

GERMANY

“The Neubronner Story”

The Neubronner's case was first mentioned in the previous issue of HEJ and generated more than a little interest. A fuller background to the problems have been obtained and are included as follows. The Neubronners run a a small press family publishing business in Germany and are currently translating The Teenage Liberation Handbook into German for the first time.

The Neubronner's story begins in a way that is personally familiar to many home educators. Their elder son, Moritz, began school along with his age mates. For two years his parents, Tilman and Dagmar, watched their son struggle mentally, emotionally, and physically with his new lifestyle. His enthusiasm for life and learning drained gradually away and finally his health began to suffer. Try as they might to find a solution for his unhappiness within the system, Tilman and Dagmar felt as defeated as Moritz clearly was. When their younger son Thomas began school, it looked frighteningly as if he were about to repeat his brother's negative experiences. Within days, he was telling his parents that he would prefer to stay at home, complaining that school “smelled funny”.

At the end of 2005, the family decided that they could struggle on no longer. Moritz and Thomas could not be asked to continue enduring a life style so detrimental to their well being and their parents removed them from school. In giving up one battle, the Neubronners took on another. There can be few newcomers to home educators who do not feel some degree of trepidation at the task before them, but in Germany, where the Neubronners come from, an extra deep breath is required. There of course, home education is a criminal activity which the authorities are determined to rout out no matter what might be the cost to such zeal.

In the initial legal action taken against them, the Neubronners argued that school was making their children ill. The court found that this was not a sufficient reason to keep them at home and when Thomas and Moritz subsequently failed to turn up at school, a fine of 1500 Euros was levied. This, the Neubronners declined to pay. Whilst the legal machine ground into action, Moritz and Thomas were savouring life at home. About once a month two teachers from the school at which they were still registered, came to their house to monitor their progress. The boys undertook written tests and received encouraging reports but their parents noticed their learning growing much more significantly than this. Dagmar likens the whole process of natural learning to that of a growing plant; an organic process in which her sons' minds do not simply develop but in which they thrive and flourish. The Neubronners' enthusiasm for and joy in home education is palpable.

Their fines have been raised within the last few weeks to 4500 Euros and baliffs have visited their home in a fruitless search to impound property that might release the sum. The Neubronners are determined not to pay, they are also determined not to follow the route of several other German home educators who, with their backs against the wall, have decided to move to more liberal countries. It will take a good deal of courage to stick to this line if prison sentences and child protection orders ensue, as they have in other cases.

Whilst the Neubronners motivation may not be hard for fellow home educators to fathom, the thought processes behind the German authorities' actions is a tougher call.

Yes, compulsory school attendance is the law since Hitler made it so, but on what grounds is it so stringently upheld? The arguments against fostering religious extremism or the creation of the bogey man “parallel” societies clearly do not apply to the middle class, mainstream Neubronners. Nor can arguments about the children's educational progress hold any sway; by the school's own measures they are doing well.

The bulldozer reactions of the authorities look much more like a crass show of strength – do it our way or else – than a considered approach to child welfare. The Neubronners are doing well at generating interest and publicity around their cause with newspaper reports and TV appearances. Disseminating news about their case both at home and abroad will help turn the spotlight onto the authority's next move. Let us all hope that it is to recognise that in the Neubronners they have finally met their match so that, at long last, a sensible and public debate about educational alternatives can take place on German soil.

Write to the Education Secretary for Bremen at the following address: Senatorin fuer Bildung and Wissenschaft, Rembertiring 8-12,D-28195 Bremen, Germany.

There is a protest letter written in German that could be sent to Angela Merkel. The letter can be downloaded at: http://www.diefreilerner.eu/ and send to: Bundeskanzleramt, Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel, Willy-Brandt-Strase 1, 10557 Berlin

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“He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.”

Albert Einstein(Largely home educated)

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Health and Safety Warning – Plaster of Paris

Many home educators use plaster of Paris, possibly unaware of the dangers involved.

As plaster of Paris sets, the chemical process generates heat. If there is a large body of plaster, the temperature can rise in the centre of the body to over 150 degrees centigrade. Earlier last year, a young girl in a school lost three fingers to severe burns while making a cast of her hand. Extreme care should be exercised when using the plaster and body parts should never be immersed in a body of plaster.

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“Single Sex Classes”

It is often said that putting children into single sex classes will improve performance by removing the distraction of children of the opposite sex. This was attempted by a Pembrokeshire head teacher as part of a well designed controlled study.

The outcome was that it made no difference in measurable performance at all, though the girls classes were deemed to be more compliant and well behaved while the boys classes were “nightmarish” to teach until the teaching material was adapted to them. Ultimately the girls still outperformed the boys and in much the same proportions for the school as before the experiment.

It seems likely that single sex classes are not the issue needed to address the gender gap in achievement, but rather it is something about the curriculum boys are expected to follow and the lack of personalised education.

Link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/4081197.stm

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“Computer Games”

Many parents consider computer games to be a waste of time and may severely limit their children's access and time spent playing them. However, there have been several interesting articles recently about computer games. One was about Shaun Clark, from the UK(AKA online as 'Apollooo') who tok the gold medal and nearly £6000 in prize money for winning the Command & Conquer 3 tournament at the week-long festival of video gaming held in Seattle. In total, nearly half a million dollars were handed out in prize money for a series of tournaments held during the festival.

Another was that M15 were targeting online game players for a career in the security services, offering 'good all round employment packages' and interesting foreign business trips.

Perhaps more persuasive was an article in The Times Educational Supplement which reported a small scale experiment where children played a computer game at the beginning of each day. The result of which was better social interaction and dramatic improvements in maths skills.

The game in question was “More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima”.

Most intriguingly the improvement was more marked for children who had previously been 'behind' prior to the experiment. Moreover the effects seemed to last. The class which took part have now been using consoles for some time and have since moved up a grade, remaining more cohesive as a group, working together better than teachers hitherto experienced.

The use of consuls appears to have improved socialisation and ability beyond anyone's expectations and further, more comprehensive experiments are planned.

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BLOGS with content relevant to home educators:

aspiehomeducation.blogspot.com
wheretruthgrows.blogspot.com
daretoknowblog.blogspot.com
hsblog.org
henireland.org/blog
gfoh.blogspot.com
sometimesitspeaceful.blogspot.com
anunschoolinglife.blogspot.com
cypruslife.blogspot.com
byothermeans.co.uk
eclecticlearnings.blogspot.com/
tworedboots.co.uk/blog/
ellesfuntimes.blogspot.com
Learning Unlimited
A support network for continental Europe
www.learning-inlimited.org

Free Range Educational
www.free-range-education.co.uk

Choice In Educational
Alternative Education newletter
www.choiceineducation.org.uk
PO Box 20284, London, NW1 3AA
0208 969 8935
[email protected]

Personalised Education Now
Promotes learner-managed learning
c.person.ed.gn.apc.org
113 Arundel Drive, Bramcote,
Nottingham, NG9 3FQ
Tel/Fax: 0115 925 7261