By Sarah Holmes and Harriet Pattison
Review and comments by Douglas Pietersma, Ed.D., Research Associate, National Home Education Research Institute
Background
This study, “Who controls the agenda? Theological perspectives on state-controlled home education in the UK” by Sarah Holmes and Harriet Pattison (2024), was catalyzed by Christian home educators concern surrounding a proposed Schools Bill (2022) in the United Kingdom (UK), who perceived potential detrimental impacts to home education freedoms. The uproar against this bill was marked substantially by theological rationales; therefore, the researchers sought to discover the theological perspective of Chrisitan home educating families in the UK for an answer to what drove their objections. The only direct implication to home educators in the proposal was a registry for those not attending schools, but the home educators clearly saw other potential threats to their freedom.
Methodology
The researchers sent out a survey in July of 2022 through several home education support organizations, with explicitly religious constituencies, which garnered 462 responses, a supermajority (88%) being from the UK. No other demographic data was collected in order to encourage participation among a group of participants that are typically resistant to such solicitations.
The survey was part of a broader project regarding the perceptions of Christian home educators in the UK vis-á-vis the proposed Schools Bill; however, the analyses, discussion and conclusions in this paper were delimited to the theological perspectives of respondents. The answers to two open ended questions and two multiple-choice questions were analyzed for the research question at hand.
Open-ended questions:
- What led you to home education?
- How does the Schools Bill make you feel as a Christian home educator?
The qualitative data obtained from these was analyzed on three levels: “1) word level, 2) discursive level and the manner in which comments were said, 3) social level, to understand their comments in the context of wider culture.”
Multiple choice questions:
- How do you think the Schools Bill will affect Christian home education? (Available Responses: It will be detrimental, Not sure, It will not impact it, It will be helpful)
- What kind of understanding do you believe the Department for Education (DfE) have of Christian home education? (Available responses: Very poor or poor, Not sure, Neutral, Very good or good)
Theoretical Framework
The basis of their methodology was an examination of power and control, which was previously utilized to study teacher-students interaction. In this study, it would be used to evaluate a similar dynamic between Chrisitan home educating families and the state, specifically the Schools Bill proposal.
Findings
The results of the study were that a supermajority (82.3%) of respondents answered, “It will not be helpful” in response to the question, “How do you think the Schools Bill will affect Christian home education?” Similarly, a supermajority (81.9%) responded “Very poor or poor” in response to the question, “What kind of understanding do you believe the Department for Education (DfE) have of Christian home education?”
The qualitative analysis of the answers to the open-ended question revealed very resolute positions. Even though the questions did not specifically solicit a theological position, the respondents nevertheless used religious rationale often, although not exclusively, to explain what led them to choose home education. The researchers grouped the responses in the following categories: 1) Desire for Christian education, 2) Instilling Christian values, 3) A sense of calling, and 4) Removal from a toxic environment. To the question on how the proposed Schools Bill make them feel as Christian home educators, the responses were grouped as follows: 1) Concern, 2) Loss of freedom, and 3) Loss of voice.
Conclusion
The strong convictions of Christian home educating parents “problematizes” the issue of state involvement or control over the home educating environment. The authors indicated the state does not adequately comprehend the perspective of these families as evidenced by the intensity of their response to the proposed Schools Bill. The authors suggested that further studies would be needed for the state to have a comprehensive understanding of this perspective prior to proposing subsequent or similar legislation.
NHERI Comment
The authors of this paper clearly start with the presupposition that the state should be involved in the education of all children. At what level may be debatable, but their position is clear, that there should be some involvement. The results of the survey show that a great majority of the Christian home educators surveyed proceed from an antithetical (and biblical) presupposition: that the state need not (or more emphatically, should not) be involved in the education of their children. It may be that the only involvement many Christian home educators will accept is no involvement at all.
This paper is informative for home educating families in the United States as “school choice” initiatives have been implemented or are being proposed in a majority of states. Considering the diametrical opposition of worldviews (statist involvement in schooling versus biblical parental authority over children’s education), the compromise that state functionaries or researchers may seek in such efforts is unlikely to emerge unless home educating families, well, compromise.
Holmes, S. E., & Pattison, H. (2024). Who controls the agenda? Theological perspectives on state-controlled home education in the UK. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2024.2324229