My granddaughter, 16, is taking the baccalaureate instead of A levels. I think it's a new system because it can be instead of GCSEs, but this is at 6th form college instead of A levels after she has taken 12 or 13 GCSEs, so sounds much like the system you are talking about, granjura.

My homeschooled grandson is only likely to take 2 GCSEs. He could possibly take one in general knowledge, knowing all the capitals and flags and railways, rivers and road systems, but I don't think there is a GCSE in that!

What happens, granjura, to those who cannot study 9-11 subjects?

Unfortunately,, the term 'baccalaureate' ws totally misused by Gove-

On the Continent, Baccalauréat or Matura = examination at 18/19 (used as university entrance qualification) - and includes for that level (in the England A'Levels - 4 subjects for AS, 3 for A for most students) the same subjects as for end of school exam (GCSEs in England) - they are exam only, no coursework, and cannot be re-taken piecemeal (eg you fail one you re-take the year and re take all subjects - I know students who have retaken 3 times, and failed a different subject each time, failing to gain the massively important 'BAC' or 'matu' (for short).

It would be almost impossible for 'normal' people to teach successfully so many subjects at that level, without a awful lot of professional teachers' input.

Sorry DJ, missed the last question. Those who are not able to study for academic education post 16 will go to a vocational college but more usually do an 3 to 4 year apprenticeship learning a trade, with 1 day release to go to college. Apprenticeships are highly respected- and students who are late developers can then bridge to do the BAC/matu concurrently or later- and enter Uni that way.

Academic post 16 ed and University is just not for all- and most people accept and respect this.

It's not possible to retake here now.

My granddaughters are not homeschooled. They enjoy school. However in our family we have teachers of English, maths, physics, languages (German, Spanish, French), biology, music, drama, geography and history as well as sociology at degree level. A lot of teachers in the family. Special needs as well.
I think we could manage, unless some awkward person wanted A level chemistry.

Sorry, I missed out engineering. We have one of those as well.

Very talented family indeed- but here you couldn't avoid chemistry- like all the other subjects it's compulsory. (well not 'here' as such as I am in lovely, sunny Rutland)-

Didn't mean to divert the topic- just thought some will find it interesting to know it is illegal in some parts of the world to HS.

Even a talented familiy like yours may still find it very difficult to teach at that very high level- I know 100s of teachers who teach secondary who would find it very difficult to teach at A'Level- including teaching for very specific exams with very specific requirements, and not 'just' the subjects. But anyway, we digress- back to the subject.

Only the biology and history teachers do not teach at A level.
Maybe we should set up a free school.
Hmmm, perhaps not.
Not a particularly talented family, just a lot of teachers.

I would echo all that Leticia says in her posts.if children can cope with school, there are probably lots of life lessons that can be learned . For those on the autistic spectrum ( for example) home schooling may suit the child better ( although is very hard on the parent.)

@dj, the news from yesterday was not about free schools etc, it was that parents claim to be home-schooling but because there is no monitoring, the offspring get no balanced education. They are based at home, the mothers don't work outside the home. They spend many hours every day in off-the-books religious buildings which have no fire inspections with unqualified unregistered 'teachers'. It's those places have have now got onto the radar, possibly because of the likes of me who have been trying to get our local politicians and LA workers to ACT instead of looking away because of fear of losing votes.

My concern is for the children.

As there is no necessity for children to be on any sort of register re their parents' choice of education, there's nothing to stop this happening. That's what needs sorting out.

PS Access courses could be an answer for those without out the necessary Level3 quals to go on to a degree-level course. They are for adults - used to be over 21's but now over 18s - in that grouping . A one-year course that covers many skills and is an L3 qualification in itself. This was the first teaching I did and I loved it, mostly 20-something women (some in their 40s) who had left school early or who had had disastrous schooling, also non-UK people who needed a local qual. It can be transformational. It has been hacked about and cut and the fees have been raised so it's a fraction of what it used to be but it still happens. Cut from 31 hours a week of teaching in the beginning to 12 hours now, so it's hard work. If a person can pass an Access course they will survive at university.

dj you were joking about spelling Guardian weren't you? It is well known as the Grauniad because of the many spelling mistakes that once occurred in its editions.
It does seem that there are now so many ways of circumventing state schooling sometimes for doubtful motives that some form of stricter monitoring is needed.

At the moment there is no monitoring and if the child is never registered for school they go completely unnoticed.
I think that anyone who home educates should have to register and have periodic checks. I expect it will come eventually, especially with today's news about the scale of unregistered teaching.

There's no obligation to teach English. This can mean that those tasked with the (very occasional) inspections have to be drawn from the community involved and are often part of the same sect, they can't interview the student otherwise.

So, a national framework with minimum standards has to come in somewhere, especially for the most vulnerable young people eg those with major disabilities.

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/thousands-of-hidden-children-in-suspected-illegal-schools-ofsted-warns-a7031831.html

No mention of homeschooling here, Pamish.
The reason it is happening is because the government has relaxed its hold on registered schools. The department has no idea what is going on. It's not to do with registered homeschooling.

Trisher, as an ex English teacher, I never joke about spelling!
If my grandson with ASD saw that he would be very puzzled.

Why is there always this misconception about homeschooling?
I have very detailed records for anyone to come and look at, and have had two inspections in less than two years.
If local authorities do not check up, that is their problem, not the problem of those doing the teaching.

The local authorities have no authority to check up, families can refuse visits.

What could happen if home education is not meeting my child's needs?
The Local Authority will want to work in partnership with parents
to find a way forward.
Parents are under no duty to respond to invitations to give information about
the education they are providing but if, after receiving a reminder, they do not
an Education Welfare Officer will be asked to make contact. If it then appears that
parents are not providing an efficient and suitable education the School Attendance Order process will be commenced. This process can result in legal action which will enforce a parent to provide an efficient and suitable education, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
Issuing an attendance order is a last resort.

From my local authority website.
.

The Indy report differs from the one in the Graun which says that the parents claim to be home schooling, then send them to these illegal 'schools'.

Inspectors would not get near them, they are surrounded by high fences and peep-holes. No-one gets past the door who's not in on the secret. And the inspectors have to speak the relevant language and understand the culture so are unlikely to be regular EWOs. The 'schools' know how to create the right paperwork to keep the pretense working, that the young people are based at home.

Home schooling can be brilliant for the right people but it can be cover for some corrupt practices. It's looking as if there are tens of thousands of young people involved, and to me it looks like child abuse.

I'm just wondering if drones could be a useful way of hopping over those fences?

It may say that on the local authority website but it doesn't actually work like that. They have to provide written evidence but they would have to have serious concerns to force a visit. They can't actually have serious concerns if they don't actually know what is going on. Serious concerns are more likely to do with physical neglect and reports to SS than what they are doing educationally.

Since I homeschooled there have been changes which do relate to home-ed but in my view, the problem is not homeschooling per se as these children aren't being home educated. They are attending illegal schools.
As there are lots or regulations about setting up schools - even free schools, the effort should be put into finding these dangerous and illegal schools and closing them down (and bringing the adults to the courts).
The emphasis should be on those breaking the law - not those simply exercising their rights within the law.

My D is teaching her children at home. They have ASD's and found school baffling and difficult. GS1 is a different boy! He has far fewer "meltdowns" and us much happier. GD has just completed an English literature assignment on Romeo and Juliette set by my D. She did the key stage 3 test at the end and got it all correct, she is only 9. She loved the Shakespeare and worked one night until 8.30 on her assignment. My D is waiting for the local authority to do a visit, as the other mothers in the home ed. group they attend have all had inspections.

There seem to be lots of people on this forum who turn to home-ed when schools don't work for a particular child. I don't want those gransnetters who don't know about it to think that this is the only child it can work for.
My children (and grandchildren for that matter) are ordinary people and for our family it was a choice rather than a necessity.
You don't need to have special needs or be 'gifted' (oh how I hate that word) in any way to be educated at home.
Not drum banging here - just trying to clarify.

Letitia, I know what it says and what it does, because I teach my grandson at home and have done for over two years. We have had two inspections, looking at his work, talking to him and both his mum and me.
We have to show his work and planning. It makes it easier. The authority is happy at the way he is going, and why not. They gain from it. We buy all our own materials and get no financial help towards the costs of his schooling.

I think my D would have taken the children out of school anyway. She has become so disenchanted with the whole system. She has a good Anthropology degree which she has never used as she became pregnant at 23, a year after leaving university. She has done loads of research, and sourced teaching materials and resources from Britain and the USA. The whole family are loving the experience.

By the way, I have time to write this because his mother just picked him up ten minutes ago.