Setting The Record Straight: Interviews With A Hundred British Home Educating Families

Abstract

This study provides the first in-depth insight into home educators' thoughts in the UK. One hundred UK-based home-educating families were interviewed, 33 twice, mostly in their own homes, after having been randomly selected from a larger sample of families responding to an initial home-education questionnaire (Rothermel 2002). Participating families were from diverse socio-economic groups, family structures and cultural backgrounds. The interviews were undertaken with a view to exploring issues within home-educating families that would not necessarily have become apparent through the questionnaires alone. The interviews revealed clear friction in some families, both within the home-educating family and between them and their extended family, which directly related to home-education. Generally however, the home-educating families were satisfied with their choice and relished the close family relationships engendered. These extensive interviews underline the view that viewing home educators as 'types' is useful only to those local authorities aiming to integrate children into school.