July 2024
Home education is when a parent provides education at home for their child, taking legal responsibility for their child's education. Parents have the right to choose to home-educate their child, instead of sending them to school. This means parents decide what their child will learn and how they will learn. There are a host of reasons why parents and carers choose this path. If a child is already at school, there is a process that parents must complete to withdraw their child from school. Read Scottish Government information here.
Local authorities do not have any legal responsibility to support parents and children with home education. However, parents do still have a number of rights, for example, under the Additional Support for Learning Act. There is full Scottish Government guidance for local authorities and for parents too.
Flexi-schooling is when the specific needs of a child or young person are supported by having a part-time timetable both at school and at home. Local authorities may decide to support this, depending on the local authority and on the particular circumstances.
These are useful links to support or inform parents who home educate or who are considering home education:
- Enquire - additional support for learning and home education
- Education Scotland
- Scottish Home Education Forum
- Home Education Scotland (Facebook).
If you have other useful links, please let us know!