I caught the end of a piece on on home ed on the Today programme on R4 haven’t time to go and find and listen to it at the moment, as children want feeding, so this is just a reminder for later as much as anything. It was on around 8.40 – 8.45.
The bit I caught was the end of an interview with what sounded like a Home Ed ‘inspector’ or something.
Listening to that has put my hackles up. I started off today in a good mood that evaporated after listening to the LEA inspector. HE-ers always have to start these interviews and the “authority” always concludes less positively not allowing the He-er to respond. Grr.
Ah yes the ubiquitous ‘learning at the kitchen table’ reference.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today3_schooling_20070303.ram
To be honest the inspector sounded like a moron and a bit thick. I can’t imagine the audience of Today thought that a reason of ‘it being hard work’ was a particular intelligent critique of why not to home-educate. I would have thought more of what standard of people are being employed as teachers and LEA advisors as a result of that interview rather than anything else.
it’s “mainly white middle class families” is it?
“I just have to go once a year if it’s satisfactory” oh, you *have* to do you?
“obviously they can’t get the social mix” well, obviously they can’t, it’s difficult for us poor home educating families to find 34 other children born within the same year to socialise our child with
“even middle class families tell me after a year that it’s really hard” so Heaven help the working class idiots who wouldn’t know anything to start with then…
OH dear, that was not what you would call informed journalism now was it…