Responsibilities
By law, you must provide an efficient, full-time education suitable to the age, ability and aptitude of your child. There is no legal definition of full-time.
Children who attend school normally do so for between 22 and 25 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year. These periods are not applicable to home education, where:
- there is often almost continuous one-to-one contact
- education may take place outside normal school hours
- the type of educational activity can be varied and flexible
Parents who education their child at home do not have to:
- teach the National Curriculum
- provide a broad and balanced education
- have a timetable
- have premises equipped to any particular standard
- set hours during which education will take place
- have any specific qualifications
- make detailed plans in advance
- observe school hours, days or terms
- give formal lessons
- mark work done by their child
- formally assess progress or set development objectives
- reproduce school-type peer group socialising
- match school-based, age-specific standards
You should consider, however, whether or not you would be able to show:
- the consistent involvement of parents or other significant carers
- recognition of the child's needs, attitudes and aspirations
- opportunities for the child to be stimulated by their learning experiences
- access to resources and materials required to provide home education for the child, such as paper and pens, books and libraries, arts and crafts materials, physical activity and ICT
- the opportunity for appropriate interaction with other children and other adults
- that your child is making progress according to their particular level of ability, taking account of any specific aptitudes
These are things that the government's GOV.UK: Elective Home Education guidance says we may reasonably expect your home education to include.