The horrendous torture and murder of Sara Sharif has, at last, shone a light on the inadequacies of the way we have monitored home education (Judge in Sara Sharif case warns of ‘dangers’ of automatic right to home school children, 17 December). For a decade I was an inspector of home education for two education authorities, and I became increasingly disturbed by the blatant – but legal – slackness of the recording that was required.
Remarkably, I found that I had no legal authority to meet the children to monitor the provision of their education. Although most parents allowed me into their houses, a few merely provided me with work that their child had done – but I had no way of knowing its authenticity. I was overruled by one director of education when I wanted to investigate further. Even when I did meet the children, it was only once a year, and in most cases the level of education I found was pitiful. Two decades later, there is no evidence to suggest things have improved.
