When it comes to educating children, do mums and dads know best?
It is estimated that between 50,000 and 150,000 children are currently being taught at home. No official figures are kept, but the main support group for home education in the UK says its membership has grown by 25% in the last year. The Otherwise Club says many parents are choosing to go it alone out of necessity. They feel local schools are not good enough for their children. Leslie Safran-Barson, who runs the Otherwise Club, taught her own son at home. He went on to gain a First in Philosophy at King’s College, London. She says: “For most parents this is not ideological. Either they cannot find a school they like or they have had some traumatic experience at a school. “People are also hearing a lot more about home education nowadays.” The 1996 Education Act gives parents the right to educate their children the way they wish. They do not have to follow the national curriculum. But parents do not go unchecked. Local Authorities have to make sure an “efficient and full-time” education
