A mother at the centre of a high-profile dispute over her daughter’s home schooling has hit out at calls for the compulsory registration of home-educated children.
Eileen Tracy’s daughter Lilian landed the lead role in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda, and performed throughout the six-month run in the West End.
The local council forced Lilian briefly into mainstream school attendance, before changing its mind.
‘Harmful’
Mrs Tracey says the home education system is “already regulated to the hilt” and should be “protected from the bureaucrat”.
She said that “home-educated children have consistently high literacy, numeracy and social skills. We cost the UK nothing and yet yield some of the country’s best results.”
“the erosion of the rights of the home educator threatens the rights and freedoms of all citizens”
She believes that while proponents of a register say it is to combat radicalisation, child abuse, and the illegal expulsion of difficult children, “none of these arguments hold water.”
“Instead, registration is a Trojan horse enabling the state to dominate parents. Indeed, the erosion of the rights of the home educator threatens the rights and freedoms of all citizens.”
