Northern Ireland - 3
Evidence of Suitable Education
Although the legal duty of Boards is concerned only with children who appear not to be receiving a suitable education, case law in England and Wales (Phillips v Brown, Divisional Court [20 June 1980, unreported] ) has established that an LEA (Local Education Authority, equivalent of Northern Ireland Board) may make informal enquiries of parents who are educating their children at home to establish that a suitable education is being provided. In Phillips v Brown, Lord Donaldson said:
Of course such a request is not the same as a notice under s37 (1) of the Education Act 1944 [now s 437 (1) of the Education Act 1996] and the parents will be under no duty to comply. However it would be sensible for them to do so. If parents give no information or adopt the course … of merely stating that they are discharging their duty without giving any details of how they are doing so, the LEA will have to consider and decide whether it ‘appears’ to it that the parents are in breach of s 36 [now s 7 of the Education Act 1996].
If a Board chooses to approach a family and informally ask for information, parents can provide evidence that a child is receiving an efficient and suitable education in a number of ways. Parents might, for example
- write a report
- provide samples of work
- invite an inspector to their home, with or without the child being present
- meet an inspector elsewhere, with or without the child
- have the educational provision endorsed by a recognised third party
- provide evidence in any other appropriate form
In their leaflet, "Educating Children at Home, England and Wales" (received June 1998), the DfEE state:
3. LEAs, however, have no automatic right of access to the parent’s home. Parents may refuse a meeting in the home, if they can offer an alternative way of demonstrating that they are providing a suitable education, for example, through showing examples of work and agreeing to a meeting at another venue.
It is assumed that the same would apply to Northern Ireland.
Occasionally, after examining the evidence, a Board may have genuine concerns about a child’s education, but the way the evidence is presented should not form the basis for these concerns. Parents need only present evidence that would, on the balance of probabilities, convince a reasonable person that a suitable education was being provided.