The new Bill despite its benign name reaches far beyond “child welfare” and into the heart of family autonomy.
It mandates local-authority registration for all home-educated children and gives authorities the power to force children into school by issuing School Attendance Orders even when the parents are providing a suitable education.
It allows unannounced home visits, effectively treating all home-educating families as potential risks, a radical presumption of guilt, not innocence.
It erodes educational freedom: home-educators may be compelled to follow state-approved curricula, with restrictive standards that suppress alternative, faith-based or child-centred learning.
It expands state surveillance through data-sharing and unique identifiers for children, a chilling incursion into privacy and family life.
All this is sold as safeguarding. But in truth, it undermines the long-standing protections of parental rights under the Education Act 1996 and the right to family life under the Human Rights Act 1998.
You should be asking: is this legislation protecting children or simply empowering the state to micromanage family lives under a veneer of “care”?
Legal professionals: we must scrutinise this Bill with the same rigour we apply to criminal-justice powers. Public conversation matters.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
The new Bill despite its benign name reaches far beyond “child welfare” and into the heart of family autonomy.
It mandates local-authority registration for all home-educated children and gives authorities the power to force children into school by issuing School Attendance Orders even when the parents are providing a suitable education.
It allows unannounced home visits, effectively treating all home-educating families as potential risks, a radical presumption of guilt, not innocence.
It erodes educational freedom: home-educators may be compelled to follow state-approved curricula, with restrictive standards that suppress alternative, faith-based or child-centred learning.
It expands state surveillance through data-sharing and unique identifiers for children, a chilling incursion into privacy and family life.
All this is sold as safeguarding. But in truth, it undermines the long-standing protections of parental rights under the Education Act 1996 and the right to family life under the Human Rights Act 1998.
You should be asking: is this legislation protecting children or simply empowering the state to micromanage family lives under a veneer of “care”?
Legal professionals: we must scrutinise this Bill with the same rigour we apply to criminal-justice powers. Public conversation matters.
Strong Families - Free Learning - Safe Children