Susan this seems a bit hysterical to me.

Firstly, I'm not sure I understand why people home-schooling their children wouldn't agree to submit to registration (except for an aversion to government interaction of any kind) and I'm not sure I understand why you think home-schooling parents wouldn't be organised enough to take a serious path to home-schooling their kids.

The kind of "truancy issues" you identify sound like they arise from a tantrum: "yeah, screw you school, I'm going to home school my kid!" as opposed to the kind of careful planning that home-schooling requires. I'm not advocating for victims of bullying to stay in schools where they are unsafe, but surely any kind of regulation would be mindful of this given the government's responsibility to attempt to ensure the safety of kids in their care.

Secondly, for home-schooling to maintain its credibility as an educational option, let's give it the opportunity to be accountable in the way that other methods of schooling currently are. To say that as a parent schooling my children at home I shouldn't be responsible to the same sorts of checks and balances as private, non-government, religious and public schools currently are seems strange. And if my educational outcomes for my kids are good, I want people to know about it!

You are right to say that there will always be some kids who don't meet minimum benchmarks set, but without a knowledge of those minimum benchmarks, how can home-schooled kids excel?

And what of the collection of data in the home-schooling system for those who do not register - let's put all this information on the record so that home schooling can be taken seriously, not written off as some kind of whacky notion.

It is not the registration that many home educators are objecting to, it is the fact they are to be forced to register under undisclosed regulations. This is hardly democratic.
Additionally it is the fact the government is seeking to limit peoples options when it comes to the education of their children.
The government seems to be happy to pay lip service to the idea of a parents, right to choose, and decries any notion of the fact they are trying to force all to comply with one standardised educational system. However the reality is they are using frightening Orwellian legislation to force all educational movements to conform to the one ideal.

Seether, currently in Victoria there exists adequate legislation pertaining to home education. The onus is upon the parents to provide regular and efficient tuition. Home educators are happy to provide proof of regular and efficient tuition, and always have been.

The problem is that the new legislation is so badly defined it can allow for any level of administrative abuse to occur. Home educators are to be forced to comply with unwritten rules, surely this would be disturbing to anyone

This new law is being brought in despite the fact that home education works very well in Victoria. The Government has done no studies to determine the impact of compulsory registration. They are insisting upon it’s introduction, even though, compulsory registration has proved a failure in other states

Seether,
It is you who assumes that home educators “wouldn't be organised enough to take a serious path to home-schooling their kids.” On the contrary, home educators are deeply committed to education. Parents who choose to home educate have the educational welfare of their children at heart –why else would they make the considerable effort involved?

There are many reasons why we are against regulation. A simple registration procedure would not be a problem. It is the invasive, insidious and bureaucratic regulations that will accompany it that we are not keen on.

Regulations designed for institutional schooling (based on classroom teaching) do not transfer easily to home education which, by its very nature, is far more individual.

Home educators utilize various educational methods and resources in order to suit their child’s learning style. Regulation to force home education to conform to the state curriculum, approved texts and teaching methods would negate their freedom to choose an alternative or more effective course for their individual child.

Many children are withdrawn from the school system because they are failing. Their concerned parents want to bring them up to a decent level of literacy and numeracy. If parents are forced to conform to the same program that is delivered in school, it will be far harder to reverse the failure.

Home education works. There is now extensive research that proves this. Home education meets the real standards - the standards set by employers and universities who are both actively seeking out home ed graduates.

The education department does not have one true way to educate –in fact judging by the continually falling standards in state schools –they are long way from figuring it out. Until they do, let them regulate themselves and allow those who have discovered their own solutions to get on with it

Susan Wright's opinion is correct, correct and correct. But it doesn't go far quite enough, I believe.

It is important to understand and illuminate the underlying philosophy of Kosky and her party's motives. The Australian Labor Party, and no doubt Kosky herself, are seriously committed to the concepts of socialism and the doctrines of Karl Marx. Marxism advocates a social responsibility for the state to manage children and remove them from parental influence and control.

This has many advantages in the Marxist economic model. Firstly and fore mostly it is designed to put all children into one social class. That's the most important principle they all work towards - elimination of individual advantage and inheritance. You see, everybody's got to be equal, comrade.

Secondly, it ensures that they can brainwash the kids to a standard philosophy - Marxism - without pesky parental values being imposed, like sexual morality or religion or economic class influences. They do not want you, the parent, to have anything to do with the social education of your own kids. You are there to feed them and clothe them and ensure they attend the mandatory schooling only.

Controlling your children is in the long term interest of their ambitions and of course they'll argue, a fair and equal society. That's their party platform.

That's why Kosky puts into place regulations to control home schooling. She wants control of your kids. And that's why the legislation will be written in open and loose terms for now, to allow her all and any kinds of interpretation later. And that's why she's used opportune timing to release the document at a politically advantageous time as has been pointed out in the article. She does not want people discussing the matter like this.

I believe this proposed legislation is not to be trusted and I venture to say, is not in the best interests of anyone's children - especially yours.

Thanks everyone for your responses to my queries/concerns.

I'm not at ALL arguing that home schooling parents don't care about their kids schooling - far from it. My parents seriously considered it as an option for my sister and I, and I'm not suggesting for a second that mainstream education should be the only option open to kids.

My point was that if you are serious about home schooling (which I have no doubt most people are) then red tape needn’t be a deterrent to it, the same way that the alleged “hassles” of having a home-birth don’t deter women who choose that path.

Given that no one has seen the guidelines being suggested, is it a little bit premature to assume that they must, as they are being suggested by government, necessarily be bad?

Parents should have the choice to school their kids at home, in the private system: take advantage of new education thinking like Steiner, or Montessori or IB or any other educational system they think will work best for their kids – I just can’t see the harm in governments moving to help satisfy themselves that ALL educational systems provide the best outcomes for kids – we could even hope that this would be the basis for a stronger range of options for all those seeking educational pathways for their children.