Home education guidance: equality impact assessment

Key Findings

Age

• The guidance will reflect a child’s right for their voice to be heard in all matters affecting them, should they wish it to be so, and for their opinions to be heard and considered. This is an enhancement to the 2007 guidance. Increased visibility of home educating children will contribute to awareness and understanding the needs of home educating families, and increasing mutual understanding. Families will be actively encouraged to involve their child in the annual conversation with the local authority, and the guidance will reflect that this can take place in a number of ways as suit the circumstances of the family. For instance this can take place online, or in person, and the family will be provided autonomy in how this is carried out. Stakeholder engagement has highlighted that the needs of children at different ages and stages can differ greatly, and the updated guidance reflects that the annual conversation should be tailored to best suit the needs and preferences of home educating children and their families.
• During the EQIA roundtable stage, stakeholders broadly agreed that it was valuable for children to have the option to be involved and express their views if they wished in conversations with local authorities.
• The Scottish Government encourages collaboration between parents/carers, the local authority and home educating children and parents/carers to foster the best possible learning outcome for the child. Improved understanding within local authority as a result of this collaboration can support learners to share their views and support families to maintain constructive links with local authority.

Disability

• A report “Home Truths” by the Scottish Home Education Forum finds that increased instances of home education in Scotland is being driven disproportionately by families whose children have disabilities, chronic conditions and other additional support needs (ASN), notably autism and severe anxiety.
• For children on the school roll, education authorities are responsible for their education and for carrying out a range of duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (the 2004 Act). This includes making arrangements to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils and making adjustments to ensure that they get the support they need to fully benefit from education.
• The guidance aims to provide information for home educators and local authorities on the right to home educate applying equally where children have additional support needs. It is made explicit that a child having additional support needs should not be a reason for refusal of consent to withdraw a child from school. Further, it also makes clear that the education authority has discretionary powers to provide support in a range of forms but the authority is under no legal duty to do so.
• The updated guidance provides clarity on the roles and responsibilities of parents and local authorities in relation to home education. While authorities must have regard to the guidance, parents do not, and there is no change to the underpinning legislation. Scottish Government considers that there is a neutral impact on the advancement of equality and opportunity for children and young people with a disability.

Sex

• Data from the Carers Census shows the majority of caring is undertaken by women and indicates it is likely that this will also be the case in the delivery of home education. According to the 2021-22 Carers Census, 59% of carers in Scotland are female. Stakeholders with expertise in home education expressed in written feedback that they felt the 59% figure appeared too low. They added that women being socially constructed to be the main carer of children, as well as women being more likely to be the parent who would give up work to home educate when necessary, were contributing factors in this respect. It is important to note that the 22-23 Carers census finds that 74% are female. This census is drawn from information provided by carers support organisations. The difference may suggest that female carers are more likely to seek out support from services than male carers.
• Evidence shows that women are often the lower earner in a household and so are more likely to leave work to deliver home education. At this stage and with the level of data held it is not possible to discern whether the guidance would have a positive or negative effect on this group, but it is likely that a higher proportion of people affected by the guidance will be women. This is supported by additional information gathered from stakeholders at the EQIA discussion. We will continue to build our understanding of this group going forward.

Race

• Information from stakeholders indicates that some migrant parents have experienced difficulties in getting local authority consent to withdraw their child from school. Other stakeholders reported that those from minority ethnic backgrounds are not always aware of how to engage with the state, and would benefit from assistance in the form of mentoring. It is important to get the views and experience of migrant and minority ethnic families in order that these perspectives can be taken into account to ensure equity and consistency for all those looking to move to home education.
• Intercultural Youth Scotland and EDI Scotland’s 2019 Report on experiences of BAME pupils found that half of male respondents and almost half of female respondents expressed disagreement with the statement ‘I believe my school would respond effectively to any concerns raised about racism or discrimination’.
• These factors could affect the decision to choose home education, although no data is held on this. At this stage and with the level of data held it is not possible to discern whether the guidance would have a positive or negative effect on this group

Religion or belief

• Some parents choose to home educate their child due to religious or cultural beliefs. Academic research states that this is commonly identified as one of the main reasons why families choose to home educate in the US as it can cause conflict with public schools. Limited data from the UK in one study in England showed 2.29% of parents surveyed gave religious reasons as their initial reason for choosing home education. (Education Otherwise, August 2022, England: why parents choose home education)
• It is important that this is acknowledged as a legitimate consideration by authorities and that the local authority should not interrogate the reasons for home education.
• Additional comments provided by stakeholders expressed that, from a faith and belief perspective, the framing of contact between home educating families and local authorities is very important.
• At this stage and with the level of data held it is not possible to discern whether the guidance would have a positive or negative effect on this group

Sexual orientation

• LGBT Youth Scotland’s 2023 survey of 1279 young people found that over 1 in 10 participants have left education due to homophobia, biphobia, or transphobia. Awareness of transphobic bullying has increased in schools from 26% in 2012 to 69% in 2022.
• At this stage and with the level of data held it is not possible to discern whether the guidance would have a positive or negative effect on this group

Gender reassignment

• According to the NASUWT website, figures provided by the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES) show that one in 1,000 school children suffers from gender dysphoria - roughly one pupil for every high school - though not all of them will seek gender reassignment surgery.
• There has been a sharp rise in the number of primary aged children (or younger) referred for help with coping with transgender feelings. According to research by GIRES and lobby group Press for Change, most children who experience gender variance fail to complete their school education.
• At this stage and with the level of data held it is not possible to discern whether the guidance would have a positive or negative effect on this group

Pregnancy and maternity

• There is no evidence to show that the guidance for home education will have either a positive or negative impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination in relation to pregnancy and maternity.

Marriage and civil partnership

• There is no evidence to show that the guidance for home education will have either a positive or negative impact on eliminating unlawful discrimination in relation to pregnancy and maternity.