My daughter has another two years before she applies for a place at an LEA-run school or is assessed for a fee-paying school. There are other possibilities too, including foreign government schools in London and alternative (but relatively cheap) fee-paying schools. And, of course, there’s home schooling. The more I look at the stress of the independent schools admission process and the fees (count on £11,000 per year for prep and probably more at the secondary level) and the more I despair at the small catchment areas (read: my house is beyond it) for the few decent state schools nearby and the wouldn’t-touch-them-with-a-bargepole primaries that are within my catchment area, the more I begin to think about home schooling and about what I call school à la carte.
On 5 November, I talked about the trend towards afterschooling in The afterschooling imperative. Home schooling, or home education, goes a bit further: it leaves out the formal school altogether. The motivations of home schoolers are many. You get all types — from nutbars to middle class people who just want a good solid education. I would consider home schooling if it could adequately address a few needs: (1) exposure to the thoughts and views and areas of interest of people other than me (2) social interaction and the opportunity to form friendships (3) exposure to some elements of formal education (ie not everything gets done at the kitchen table) and (4) a little bit of time off of mother-cum-teacher (which would otherwise be a 24/7 job). A school à la carte would address all of these concerns. Parents could volunteer to teach modules to the children of others, or parents could club together to hire specialists (such as language teachers) to offer modules. There would be a physical place where children would congregate and, critically, see familiar faces several times per week (rather than the once per week they might otherwise see another child at Brownies or football practice.) Parents could still home school, but their children would be exposed to a whole plethora of interesting modules, many of which one might expect to go well beyond the confines of the National Curriculum. (The unbridled ability to provide modules of any type are what would distinguish an à la carte school from “flexi-schooling”, a legal loophole which permits parents to combine home schooling with part-time attendance at a local school with the school head’s permission. After all, if, like me, one of your big concerns is getting away from teaching to the all-too-many-standardised tests , why would you want your kid attending a school which will inevitably spend much of its time preparing for those very same tests?)
Topics which are in high demand can be scheduled after the normal school day in an à la carte school in order to pull in the afterschooling parents looking for that extra enrichment or remedial help. I see no reason why the financial aspects can’t be viable, especially when one considers the availability of school space which heads are only too willing to rent out to buttress school budgets.
I am a traditionalist at heart, yet even I would be open to considering an à la carte education for my daughter. Your thoughts are appreciated, but please post them quickly; I imagine that as soon as Mr Snowdon reads this post, it will be pulled…
Snowdon on Schools 