Questions unsettle home schoolers

The Education Ministry is toughening requirements for home schooling to make it more like regular school, worried parents say.

The application form and information pack for parents who want to teach their children at home is being updated, a step causing disquiet among home schoolers, many of whom have emailed the ministry to express their concern.

The application asks for information on what subjects a child will be studying, how NCEA requirements will be met, how teaching methods will be evaluated, and a description of the child's educational needs. However, the ministry has denied it is making policy changes.

Lower Hutt father Phil Astley said the ministry wanted home educators to follow the same regime as a classroom teacher, including providing timetables and lesson plans.

He fears the ministry is undermining the benefits and flexibility of home schooling.

"They're very strongly suggesting that we follow the national curriculum, but there's no obligation by law for us to do that. Having the freedom to choose what our children learn, and when and how they learn it, is one of the big advantages that home schooling has."

Mr Astley and his wife Lynette have been home schooling for 14 years. Their daughter Cheryl is 19 and their son, Jason is 15.

Legally, home schooling parents are only required to teach their children "at least as regularly and as well" as children in a registered school.

More than 6400 New Zealand children are taught at home. Their parents must apply to the ministry for an exemption from enrolling them in a regular school and they are subject to Education Review Office checks.

Christian Heritage leader Ewen McQueen said the ministry was introducing more bureaucracy for parents, and the new application form included "vague and unnecessary" requirements.

The ministry should be encouraging home schooling and not putting up "more bureaucratic hoops for parents to jump through," he said.

Education Ministry operational policy manager Jim Matheson said it was working on the application form to make it easier for parents to understand, but it was not introducing any changes to existing policies or requirements for home schooling.

He was working closely with home schooling groups to ensure they were happy with the form.

Earlier drafts had been misunderstood by home schoolers and a new version would be sent out tomorrow.

- NZPA