Home education in Scotland: what the law says

Home education is legal in Scotland, and you don't need anyone's permission to do it. What you may need is the council's consent to take your child off the school roll, and that depends on the school they are at now.

The council has no legal duty to monitor you. It is recommended to have a conversation with you about once a year, and it has no right of access to your home or your child.

The law puts the duty on you, the parent, not on the school. Under section 30 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 you must provide “efficient education” for your child “suitable to his age, ability and aptitude either by causing him to attend a public school regularly or by other means”. Home education is one of those other means.

You don't need any qualifications or training. The Scottish Government guidance says so in as many words.

This is where Scotland is different from England. Under section 35 of the 1980 Act, if your child has attended a public school, they stay on its roll until the council has “consented to the withdrawal of the child from the school (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld)”. The guidance is clear that this is consent to leave the school, and that “consent is not needed to home educate in itself”.

You don't need consentif your child has never attended a public school, has never attended one in that council's area, is leaving an independent school, has finished primary but not started secondary, if their school has closed, or if they are not yet school age. (That list is from paragraph 3.8 of the guidance.)

If you do need consent:

1. 1Write to the council's education department, as early as you can, asking for consent to withdraw your child from the school roll to home educate. Keep a copy and note the date.
2. 2You don't have to say why. The guidance says your reason “should have no bearing” on the decision, because the council's interest is in how you plan to educate, not why.
3. 3Give some idea of your plans: your aims, the resources you'll use, how your child will mix with others. If there are no reasonable grounds to refuse, consent “can be granted immediately”. Otherwise the council should aim to decide within six weeks and keep you told if it takes longer.
4. 4While you wait, the guidance says that in most cases it would be inappropriate for the council to start attendance procedures against you. A history of poor attendance isn't, on its own, a reason to refuse.

If the council refuses, it should tell you why in writing and give you a chance to answer its concerns and ask again. There is no statutory right of appeal, but you can ask for an internal review, use the council's complaints procedure, and then go to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Consent may not be immediate where there are open child protection matters. The guidance lists them, and they apply to brothers and sisters in the home as well.

If you needed consent, the council already knows. If you didn't, there is no legal duty to tell anyone: the guidancesays “There is no statutory duty upon families to inform the local authority that they are home educating if they do not require consent”.

It does strongly encourage you to let the council know anyway, and councils may be able to offer some support. That part is up to you.

Less than you might expect. From the guidance on contact with families:

• “There is no statutory duty upon local authorities to monitor ongoing home education provision.”
• Councils are recommended to have a conversation with you at least once a year about how things are going, including your child if they want to be included. This annual contact “is not a statutory requirement”. If there are no concerns, there is no need for more contact until the next year.
• The council “does not have a right of access to the home or the child”. You can meet somewhere else or online, write a report, or send samples of work instead.
• It can only ask to see your home if it has concerns that other evidence hasn't settled, and then it must have demonstrable grounds and tell you what they are.

If the council isn't satisfied your child is getting a suitable education, the formal step is a notice under section 37 of the 1980 Act. It gives you between 7 and 14 days to explain what you are doing, either in person or in writing. If you still can't satisfy them, the council must make an attendance order. The guidance expects councils to try ongoing dialogue first.

The law doesn't define it. The guidancesays “There is no definition of suitable and efficient education set out in legislation”, then lists what a council may reasonably expect to see:

• you, or other important adults, consistently involved
• some philosophy or approach (it doesn't have to be a recognised one)
• a child stimulated by what they are learning
• a broad range of activities that suit their stage
• suitable resources and materials
• a reasonable amount of physical activity
• chances to mix with other children and adults

You don't have to follow Curriculum for Excellence, keep school hours or test your child. Some families use it, some use another country's curriculum, some learn informally. There is also no legal requirement to aim for any particular qualifications. If your child does want to sit exams, you arrange and pay for them, so look into it early.

Exams are a whole subject of their own, and we'll cover them separately.