Home Education in the UK: How Home Schooling Works

Home education, also called home schooling or elective home education, is the arrangement where a parent takes responsibility for a child's education outside a school setting, and in England, Wales and Northern Ireland this rests on a parental duty, set out in the Education Act, to secure an efficient, full-time education suitable to the child's age, ability, aptitude and any additional needs, delivered at school 'or otherwise'. Scotland imposes a comparable duty under its own legislation, though the process for withdrawing a child already on a local authority school roll differs there, as covered further below.

A parent whose child has never attended school needs no one's permission to begin, since the duty to provide a suitable education already sits with them; a child currently on a school roll comes off it only once the parent has told the school in writing, a step covered below alongside the added rules for special schools and for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan. In England, no local authority approves a home education plan in advance.

What is home education and what does the law require?

Home education is the legal alternative to school attendance, with the underlying duty, set out in section 7 of the Education Act, resting on the parent: they must cause the child to receive an efficient, full-time education suitable to the child's age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs, whether through regular attendance at school 'or otherwise'. The same wording underpins the duty in Wales, and a closely related duty exists in Northern Ireland under the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order. Scotland's duty derives instead from the Education (Scotland) Act, covered in the section on national differences below.

How do you take a child out of school in England?

Taking a child out of school in England starts with a written notice from the parent to the school, stating that the child will stop attending on a given day and will receive an education otherwise than at school. Under the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations, the school then deletes the child's name from its admission register once that day has passed, and reports the deletion to the local authority; parents have no separate legal duty to notify the local authority themselves, though many find it helpful to do so anyway.

• Parent writes to the school naming the date the child will leave
• School deletes the child's name from the admission register once that date passes
• School reports the deletion to the local authority, not the parent

Are the rules different for a special school or a child with an EHCP?

Yes, for a child at a special school. The school cannot delete the child's name from its register until the local authority has given consent, since the authority placed the child there in the first place; departmental guidance for local authorities describes this as a step that should not be lengthy or complex, and consent must not be withheld unreasonably. The authority is expected to consider whether the proposed home education would meet the child's special educational needs.

A child with an Education, Health and Care Plan who attends a mainstream school is treated differently: the parent may withdraw the child from the school roll without needing the local authority's consent, although engaging with the authority beforehand is encouraged, since the plan may need reviewing once the child is being educated at home instead of at the named school.

• Special school: local authority consent required before deregistration
• Mainstream school with an EHCP: no local authority consent required, though early contact with the authority is encouraged

What role does the local authority play, and what do informal enquiries involve?

A local authority in England has no legal power to approve, inspect or monitor a home education programme as a matter of routine, but it does have a duty to make arrangements for identifying children in its area who are not receiving a suitable education, and this duty is the basis for the informal enquiries many authorities make of home educating families. Those enquiries typically ask a parent to describe, in writing or at a meeting away from the home, how the child's education is being provided.

A local authority has no automatic right of entry to the family home and may only visit at the parent's invitation. Rules on registers of children not in school are under review, so parents should check the official government page for the position that applies to their family.

Is a curriculum, timetable or set of exams required?

No, a home educating parent in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is not required to follow the National Curriculum, teach a broad and balanced curriculum, keep to school hours or terms, or enter the child for any qualification. What is required is the underlying standard set out in the parental duty: an education that is efficient, full-time and suitable to that child's age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs, which leaves considerable room for parents to choose an approach that suits the particular child. Scotland's duty is worded in similar terms and does not prescribe a curriculum or a timetable either.

How do families structure home education in practice?

Families structure home education in as many ways as there are families, since the law names no required method, only the outcome of a suitable, efficient, full-time education. Departmental guidance for parents notes that a parent may teach the child directly, engage private tutors or other adults, use online or distance learning courses, or draw on a mix of these, and that there is no requirement to follow any one of them. Some families also make use of home education support groups, which bring children together for shared activities, classes or trips whilst each child's education remains the parent's responsibility.

A school may also agree to flexi-school a child, allowing part-time attendance alongside home education at the school's discretion. Where a group regularly provides full-time education to several children away from their own homes, it may need to register as an independent school in its own right, so families relying heavily on a shared setting should check its registration status.

• Direct teaching by a parent
• Private tutors, in specific subjects or more broadly
• Online or distance learning courses
• Home education groups, co-ops and shared classes
• Part-time flexi-schooling, where a school agrees to it

Can a home-educated child sit GCSEs or IGCSEs, and how do they return to school?

Yes, a home-educated child can sit GCSEs, usually by registering as a private candidate at an exam centre that accepts external candidates, a route confirmed by the Joint Council for Qualifications and offered by boards including AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and WJEC. Centres are not obliged to accept private candidates and make their own decisions by subject, and subjects with coursework or non-exam assessment, such as the spoken language element of GCSE English Language, are often unavailable to private candidates because the centre must supervise and authenticate that work. Many home educating families use the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE for these subjects instead, since it is assessed mainly through written exams.

Arranging exam entries and finding a willing centre sits with the parent, and it is worth starting that search well ahead of the exam series a child is aiming for, since places for private candidates are limited and centres set their own deadlines. Returning to school later works through the normal admissions system: the parent applies to the local authority, or in some cases directly to the school, for an in-year place, and the local authority can advise on which schools have space in the relevant year group.

How do the rules differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

Scotland differs from England most clearly at the point of withdrawal: under the Education (Scotland) Act, a parent does not need consent to home educate a child who has never been enrolled at a local authority school, but a child already on a local authority school roll can only be withdrawn with the authority's consent, which must not be withheld unreasonably. Scottish local authorities have a discretionary power, not a duty, to offer support to home educating families, and while parents are not generally required by law to notify the authority where consent is not needed, authorities encourage voluntary notification so that advice and support remain available.

Wales follows the same underlying parental duty as England, and the deregistration process is closely comparable: a parent gives written notice to the school, the school removes the child from its register, and it must notify the local authority within a set number of school days, with a child at a special school needing the local authority's consent to be deregistered, much as in England. In Wales, the Welsh Government's elective home education guidance sets out the position on any register of children not in school, and is the page to check before assuming a registration requirement applies.

Northern Ireland places the same kind of duty on parents under the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order, and its process is the most direct of the four nations: neither the child's school nor the Education Authority needs to give permission for home education to begin, even for a child already enrolled, and a parent need only tell the school's principal so the child can be taken off the register. The exception is a child at a special school, where the Education Authority must be told before withdrawal, mirroring the special school rule that applies in England and Wales.

Official guidance

The rules and processes in this guide are drawn from the official pages below, which are the place to confirm the current position before making a decision.

• legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/section/7
• legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/208/regulation/9/made
• legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/208/contents
• gov.uk/government/publications/elective-home-education
• gov.uk/home-education
• assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ca21e22e5274a77d9d26feb/EHE_guidance_for
• assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf6d2bdcb0757928e5bd47/Elective_home_ed
• jcq.org.uk/private-candidates/
• aqa.org.uk/student-and-parent-support/private-candidates
• qualifications.pearson.com/en/support/support-topics/registrations-and-entries/a

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