Time for Change?

If I have learnt anything from my time home educating both my daughters, it’s don’t be afraid to go against the ‘norm’. As I was brought up going through the phases of primary school, then middle and finally highs school, I assumed my own children would do the same.

The biggest mistake made that impacted this not happening in my opinion was when the Council got rid of middle school.

This school period allowed you to mature a bit more and start going through puberty in an environment where you were still a bit more protected from the outside world of adults and the grown-up pressures that our young people today seem to take on at such a young age.

Yes, we messed around with make up and started to be interested

in boys, but we also still played with pogs (showing my age and era here!) and read magazines that came with a free sparkly lip balm. Now eleven-year-olds are thrown amongst teens who are putting on their false eye lashes, taking constant insta pics and generally just growing up way too quickly.

Schools are sinking

With the recognition and diagnosing of more and more learning difficulties and better understanding of disorders such as autism, the schools are sinking as they are not able to fulfil what each child is entitled too, an education and an environment where they are safe. Understandably teachers cannot meet each child’s need due to the lack of funding and school’s not being provided with trained staff or the building space to provide environments suitable to support these needs.

Living on an Island I know all too well the lack of special needs schools that are available. We have two which are always at capacity and cannot cope with the number of children that need a place. There is then this huge group of children who either must attend mainstream schools which cannot necessarily support their needs and have hundreds of children in buildings that are no longer fit for purpose, or like myself, you make the decision to home-school.

Home education isn't the easy option

I feel very lucky that my background is working with children and supporting special needs, but it doesn’t mean it’s always easy and I’m not saying you need this to home-school, but it has helped me. Due to my daughter’s autism and learning difficulties she works at a much lower level from her age, and I keep her learning life skills related.

Times have changed and so have our children and I think schools and education need to change with them. Bring in more vocational topics so they can learn

what they are interested in and start to build skills they can get a job with. It shouldn’t be hard having to ‘keep’ kids in school. One environment is not going to suit the hundreds of children that attend it and that’s ok. But there needs to be more alternatives and education that is better suited to varying needs and gives more opportunities than to sit a huge number of exams with immense pressures that is totally unnecessary and benefiting who?

For parents like myself, the system has already failed their children, how many more need to go through this for it to change?