Comparison of 2019 EHE Guidance with 2023 Draft Guidance

Linked from the table below are several downloadable tables compiled by a long-term home educating parent, which compare the above versions of the Guidance for Local Authorities section by section. We are very grateful to the volunteer for the huge effort they have made in carrying out this laborious task.

Many may have sensed there are significant and sometimes worrying differences in the new version, but have not found them easy to identify. They are indeed both complex and extensive.

We are providing these comparison charts in the hope of making it simpler for HE families to identify the differences between the current guidance and the draft. Clear colour coding shows where text has been removed completely, where it has been added, and where it has been moved to another section or combined.

For instance, when the 2019 Guidance was first issued, many home educators questioned the unsubstantiated use of the phrase “considerable evidence.” The charts make it easier to see how this portion from the Introduction on page 4, for example:

“However, the past few years have seen a very significant increase in the number of children being educated at home, and there is considerable evidence that many of these children are not receiving a suitable education. There is a less well evidenced but increasing concern that some children educated at home may not be in safe environments.” (2019)

has become this (also from the Introduction):

“The past few years have seen a significant increase in the number of children being educated at home, especially as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. While this increase is not a concern in of itself, there is evidence from local authorities and other stakeholders that some of these children are not receiving a suitable efficient full-time education, including that some of these children are not being educated in safe environments.” (Draft)

By providing these comparison charts, the HE Byte team are not suggesting that the 2019 guidance is fit for purpose – it never was! The guidance desperately needs revising, but not along the proposed lines.

When the changes in the draft guidance are identified, they clearly evidence further mission creep as far as state control is concerned.

Given the complexity of the task, it has been deemed there would be no added value in repeating the exercise with the “Guidance for Parents.”

The files below are available in three formats: Open Text Document [.odt], MS Word Document [.doc] and Portable Document Format [.pdf] – please use whichever you prefer; they are otherwise identical. To make it easier to access the sections you are interested in, they have been divided into separate files (11 in each format) rather than a single very large one.

The graphic below explains the layout and colour scheme. The right hand column (and the box at the end of each file) is for you to make any notes of your own – they can be used on screen or of course on any printed copies you make.

We hope you find these helpful, not only as you try to unpick the wording in preparation for consultation responses, but also in coming to see how effectively the political and public narrative can be changed by interpreting legislation in a very different way to that in which it was originally understood.

Click the image above to expand and/or download.