Outcomes and the factors that affect them
The wonderful Grit, who keeps one of my favourite home ed blogs, has exhorted me to keep posting here, although for some reason I'm finding it very difficult to do so these days. But for Grit (and anyone else who wanted it) I will try.
First, I hate the word 'outcomes'. It speaks about the end result of a process: feed this in and in the end, you get that out, which will be why it's so well-used by conventional educationalists. But I think of education as a self-motivated thing, based on seeking knowledge. When this is a healthy, natural process it doesn't stop at the age of 16 or 18 or 21, or whenever a particular set course finishes, or when the government decides it should. It's a lifelong thing and I think this is another reason why I struggle to think in terms of educational 'outcomes'.
But this seems to be, politically, a momentous time for home education. We're in the news this week and we're being debated in the House of Lords. Two of my children are now over the age of 18, so I thought I'd say something here about their educational 'outcomes' and how I think these have been achieved.
Tom's business is still going well, although it's had its ups and downs over the year since he set it up. Crucially, it answers both the requirements he always had of it:
He enjoys the work because it takes him around the neighbourhood, meeting and enjoying discussions with lots of other people. He also derives great satisfaction from being able to resolve whatever problem was preventing them from getting the best use from their technical equipment. But fixing computers isn't his true vocation in life, good as he is at it. His real passion is CGI, which he's teaching himself to do and from which he might one day earn his living.
Ali is still enjoying his home educated status, which officially ends this June, on his 20th birthday which is the last day for which I can claim Child Benefit for him. He has to pay for his keep after that, as they all will: I don't have extra income for funding my adult children and even though I've had to claim single parent benefits as they've grown up, living off the state isn't something any of us have considered for them as adults. If they claimed unemployment benefits, they'd be compelled to take whatever jobs they were offered and they've never wanted to be employees, as such.
The thing is, they've had so much freedom as children that the concept of full-time employment in the same place doing the same kind of thing all day every day is unpalatable to them. They'd do it if their lives depended on it, but I don't think it's ever going to be their preference, now that they know what the alternatives are. They are not at all institutionalised.
Ali has options in the pipeline for the second half of this year and thereafter, for funding his keep. He really wants to do some interpreting and/or translation work, languages having always been his main line of interest and activity and this seems quite likely to come to pass for him, but if not he will join his brother in business, working to bring in enough extra custom to pay for them both. In the event, a combination of the two will probably happen - at least to start with.
The conventional 'grow up, move away' pattern hasn't happened for us and still might not. It's not an ethos I'd sign up to because extended family living makes more sense to me. This way, we share our resources and we all benefit: I make living cheaper and easier for them by providing a living environment which is bigger, nicer, more efficiently-run and friendlier than anything they'd be able to afford on their own and they make living cheaper and easier for me by helping out with jobs and tasks, providing a free baby-sitting service and saving me the expense of using tradesmen etc.
This is bad for the national and global economy. Not as bad as it could be though: in a few years' time, only the younger children will be living on benefits [child tax credits] and even they might not be. We might not reach the income threshold for paying income tax, but we will all pay our own way and provide what we need for ourselves. It's a cheap, wholesome, happy way of living, in which we still have that priceless and sanity-saving luxury of waking up in the morning thinking: "What do I want to do today?" - and then doing it.
"But this isn't feasible for everyone," some people say. "So it can't be promoted as a general ideal. Most people will have to go and get a full-time job." I can't quite see the logic of this though. I know it might be hard to believe in this day and age, but I still think we all have some saleable skill, gift or talent which - even if it doesn't make us rich, will provide enough for us to get by.
The differentiating factor is probably the nature of the family home, which underpins my sons' whole lives and their way of life. When I was their age, I was married with children but younger than them I remember working three jobs to pay my rent and bills because I was living away from the family home, having been 'encouraged' to move out. I didn't want them to feel trapped into either one of those outcomes before they felt truly ready for them.
We don't live in each others' pockets though. They have their own lives and their own friends and interests. Their bedrooms are very much their own territory and there are sometimes issues about who's doing the washing up and so on, but the longer we live like this and the older we all get, the easier it becomes. Things have settled down. We are each others' mutual support network and this is something I cherish more than all the money and shiny new things in the world.
The younger children sort of have four parents, because of the age gap, and I feel like they need them! It was the nearest I could get to having a whole village to raise the child. (Perhaps my grandchildren - or even their children - will have the village.) And it's much easier, this time around, to the feeling of isolation I had when the first three were little, even though I was married then. Perhaps especially because I was married then.
And the older children still have their parent when they need one, which they sometimes still do. I like to be able to help them and to facilitate their lives to the relatively small extent that I now do.
It's not always easy and there are sometimes problems, but I've looked at a lot of different living arrangements in my life - experienced quite a few myself - and so far this one is by far the best of all, for all concerned. It will no doubt change as and when other people join the mix and one or more of our own leave it - they might even all choose to leave it - but the key priority for me is that people should have the choice: to be free to make their own decisions and not pressured or persuaded into positions they don't want to take.
I think extended family living and self employment might be the natural outcomes to autonomous home education and I don't see anything wrong with them in principle, if everyone involved is happy and doing what they want to do. Yes, the nation's current economy would collapse if everyone did it, but we're hardly going to start a revolution, are we? I don't think it's ever going to be a mainstream way of life and there is room for pockets of people living in more flexible ways than the norm, although it seems that there are some forces who would prefer us to keep quiet about the whole thing. But really, I don't know why they feel so threatened.
In general, I love the fact that Tom and Ali have achieved their current positions without the need for conventional qualifications and/or college courses. At various times they looked into both, but found them wanting in terms of enthusiasm, inclusivity and focus. The main problem was the lack of enthusiasm exhibited by tutors, to be honest. I don't think either of them met anyone who sounded like he really wanted to be there, doing that job and so they baulked at signing to do courses with them, in case the gloom might be contagious. In the end, it wasn't a problem and they both say that any other kind of education than the self-driven one they had would have wasted their time and probably side-tracked them from what they really wanted to do.
They're both very satisfied with the education they had at home, which was autonomous but with support. I wanted them to find their own motivation and to enable this I had to stop trying to motivate them myself, but having done that, there was no stopping them. Yes, they've had fun, they've played computer games and messed around (they still do. Don't we all, to some extent?) But they're still choosing to learn and improve their marketable skills, I'm noticing, for most of their waking hours.
Their autonomous home education has been an unmitigated success: they are able and willing to earn as much money as they need or want, always dependent on their chosen level of input. They are healthy, happy, solvent, creative, stable and secure and they provide a useful service for the local community.
Outcomes for home educated children do vary, as they do for every other kind of education and section of society. Every family is different: every child is different. There's no reason for all outcomes to be the same or even similar, and probably no way to ensure they can be. I'm trying to think what I've done for the boys to help to bring them to this point, and I think it was to keep having faith in them and to respect their choices and wishes throughout as much as was humanly possible: a respect they seem happy to return in their treatment of me, without being asked. I don't know what factors affect other autonomously home educated children's 'outcomes', but I do know that these will be many and varied.
If we'd have been forced to home educate according to the Badman recommendations and/or the requirements contained in the CSF bill, Tom and Ali's outcomes would have been very different, because the amount of autonomy and freedom in education they enjoyed would have been impossible. It saddens us all greatly that we're having to prepare their seven year-old and even their three year-old sister for annual education inspections instead of relying only on their self-motivation to learn. I will do everything I can to ensure that as much of their freedom and curiosity can be protected as legally possible, but under the proposed new regime which allows for trust of neither child nor parent, this will be difficult and I anticipate that their 'outcomes' will be negatively affected to some degree because of it.
If anyone in government or the DCSF cares. Which, it seems, they don't.
First, I hate the word 'outcomes'. It speaks about the end result of a process: feed this in and in the end, you get that out, which will be why it's so well-used by conventional educationalists. But I think of education as a self-motivated thing, based on seeking knowledge. When this is a healthy, natural process it doesn't stop at the age of 16 or 18 or 21, or whenever a particular set course finishes, or when the government decides it should. It's a lifelong thing and I think this is another reason why I struggle to think in terms of educational 'outcomes'.
But this seems to be, politically, a momentous time for home education. We're in the news this week and we're being debated in the House of Lords. Two of my children are now over the age of 18, so I thought I'd say something here about their educational 'outcomes' and how I think these have been achieved.
Tom's business is still going well, although it's had its ups and downs over the year since he set it up. Crucially, it answers both the requirements he always had of it:
- It allows him lots of spare time to do other things: he works for about 10 hours a week; and
- It pays for his keep. Just about, usually. Although he knows full well, having proved it to himself time and again, that his input determines his output.
He enjoys the work because it takes him around the neighbourhood, meeting and enjoying discussions with lots of other people. He also derives great satisfaction from being able to resolve whatever problem was preventing them from getting the best use from their technical equipment. But fixing computers isn't his true vocation in life, good as he is at it. His real passion is CGI, which he's teaching himself to do and from which he might one day earn his living.
Ali is still enjoying his home educated status, which officially ends this June, on his 20th birthday which is the last day for which I can claim Child Benefit for him. He has to pay for his keep after that, as they all will: I don't have extra income for funding my adult children and even though I've had to claim single parent benefits as they've grown up, living off the state isn't something any of us have considered for them as adults. If they claimed unemployment benefits, they'd be compelled to take whatever jobs they were offered and they've never wanted to be employees, as such.
The thing is, they've had so much freedom as children that the concept of full-time employment in the same place doing the same kind of thing all day every day is unpalatable to them. They'd do it if their lives depended on it, but I don't think it's ever going to be their preference, now that they know what the alternatives are. They are not at all institutionalised.
Ali has options in the pipeline for the second half of this year and thereafter, for funding his keep. He really wants to do some interpreting and/or translation work, languages having always been his main line of interest and activity and this seems quite likely to come to pass for him, but if not he will join his brother in business, working to bring in enough extra custom to pay for them both. In the event, a combination of the two will probably happen - at least to start with.
The conventional 'grow up, move away' pattern hasn't happened for us and still might not. It's not an ethos I'd sign up to because extended family living makes more sense to me. This way, we share our resources and we all benefit: I make living cheaper and easier for them by providing a living environment which is bigger, nicer, more efficiently-run and friendlier than anything they'd be able to afford on their own and they make living cheaper and easier for me by helping out with jobs and tasks, providing a free baby-sitting service and saving me the expense of using tradesmen etc.
This is bad for the national and global economy. Not as bad as it could be though: in a few years' time, only the younger children will be living on benefits [child tax credits] and even they might not be. We might not reach the income threshold for paying income tax, but we will all pay our own way and provide what we need for ourselves. It's a cheap, wholesome, happy way of living, in which we still have that priceless and sanity-saving luxury of waking up in the morning thinking: "What do I want to do today?" - and then doing it.
"But this isn't feasible for everyone," some people say. "So it can't be promoted as a general ideal. Most people will have to go and get a full-time job." I can't quite see the logic of this though. I know it might be hard to believe in this day and age, but I still think we all have some saleable skill, gift or talent which - even if it doesn't make us rich, will provide enough for us to get by.
The differentiating factor is probably the nature of the family home, which underpins my sons' whole lives and their way of life. When I was their age, I was married with children but younger than them I remember working three jobs to pay my rent and bills because I was living away from the family home, having been 'encouraged' to move out. I didn't want them to feel trapped into either one of those outcomes before they felt truly ready for them.
We don't live in each others' pockets though. They have their own lives and their own friends and interests. Their bedrooms are very much their own territory and there are sometimes issues about who's doing the washing up and so on, but the longer we live like this and the older we all get, the easier it becomes. Things have settled down. We are each others' mutual support network and this is something I cherish more than all the money and shiny new things in the world.
The younger children sort of have four parents, because of the age gap, and I feel like they need them! It was the nearest I could get to having a whole village to raise the child. (Perhaps my grandchildren - or even their children - will have the village.) And it's much easier, this time around, to the feeling of isolation I had when the first three were little, even though I was married then. Perhaps especially because I was married then.
And the older children still have their parent when they need one, which they sometimes still do. I like to be able to help them and to facilitate their lives to the relatively small extent that I now do.
It's not always easy and there are sometimes problems, but I've looked at a lot of different living arrangements in my life - experienced quite a few myself - and so far this one is by far the best of all, for all concerned. It will no doubt change as and when other people join the mix and one or more of our own leave it - they might even all choose to leave it - but the key priority for me is that people should have the choice: to be free to make their own decisions and not pressured or persuaded into positions they don't want to take.
I think extended family living and self employment might be the natural outcomes to autonomous home education and I don't see anything wrong with them in principle, if everyone involved is happy and doing what they want to do. Yes, the nation's current economy would collapse if everyone did it, but we're hardly going to start a revolution, are we? I don't think it's ever going to be a mainstream way of life and there is room for pockets of people living in more flexible ways than the norm, although it seems that there are some forces who would prefer us to keep quiet about the whole thing. But really, I don't know why they feel so threatened.
In general, I love the fact that Tom and Ali have achieved their current positions without the need for conventional qualifications and/or college courses. At various times they looked into both, but found them wanting in terms of enthusiasm, inclusivity and focus. The main problem was the lack of enthusiasm exhibited by tutors, to be honest. I don't think either of them met anyone who sounded like he really wanted to be there, doing that job and so they baulked at signing to do courses with them, in case the gloom might be contagious. In the end, it wasn't a problem and they both say that any other kind of education than the self-driven one they had would have wasted their time and probably side-tracked them from what they really wanted to do.
They're both very satisfied with the education they had at home, which was autonomous but with support. I wanted them to find their own motivation and to enable this I had to stop trying to motivate them myself, but having done that, there was no stopping them. Yes, they've had fun, they've played computer games and messed around (they still do. Don't we all, to some extent?) But they're still choosing to learn and improve their marketable skills, I'm noticing, for most of their waking hours.
Their autonomous home education has been an unmitigated success: they are able and willing to earn as much money as they need or want, always dependent on their chosen level of input. They are healthy, happy, solvent, creative, stable and secure and they provide a useful service for the local community.
Outcomes for home educated children do vary, as they do for every other kind of education and section of society. Every family is different: every child is different. There's no reason for all outcomes to be the same or even similar, and probably no way to ensure they can be. I'm trying to think what I've done for the boys to help to bring them to this point, and I think it was to keep having faith in them and to respect their choices and wishes throughout as much as was humanly possible: a respect they seem happy to return in their treatment of me, without being asked. I don't know what factors affect other autonomously home educated children's 'outcomes', but I do know that these will be many and varied.
If we'd have been forced to home educate according to the Badman recommendations and/or the requirements contained in the CSF bill, Tom and Ali's outcomes would have been very different, because the amount of autonomy and freedom in education they enjoyed would have been impossible. It saddens us all greatly that we're having to prepare their seven year-old and even their three year-old sister for annual education inspections instead of relying only on their self-motivation to learn. I will do everything I can to ensure that as much of their freedom and curiosity can be protected as legally possible, but under the proposed new regime which allows for trust of neither child nor parent, this will be difficult and I anticipate that their 'outcomes' will be negatively affected to some degree because of it.
If anyone in government or the DCSF cares. Which, it seems, they don't.
posted by Gill at 9:34 am
8 Comments:
Those of us with younger HE children always seem desperate to hear about older HE children and their outcomes. It's as if we need something to hang on to, to enable us to keep the faith, reassurance that it will all be ok in the end.
For those of thus with the less academically-tempted children it's a long time to hang in there, with few and unpredictable glimmers of hope. Especially when there are others around us - erhum - whose 13 and 14 year-olds are ploughing through IGCSES and already forging a successful academic career!
Thank you for sharing your story.
Thanks for your comment, Big Mamma Frog. I think it will all be ok in the end, depending on your definition of 'ok'!
I remember the feeling of pressure about GCSE, both when I was a teenager taking them (none of which I ever used, despite enjoying some career and business success and higher education - Open University FTW!) and when my own were choosing not to take them.
I think studying to take several GCSEs at 15 probably needs to start a lot earlier with some compulsion and set routine in education, and/or a place at college and regular attendance. Quite a big undertaking whichever way you look at it, and therefore one that would have to have a very high chance of 'good outcomes' for the child to be willing to make the time and energy commitment.
Something I forgot to say in the blog post was: why are 'outcomes' always measured in financial terms? I know people who are financially affluent, but emotional wrecks. Surely it makes more sense to look at a more complete picture.
A really wonderful read. I found it inspiring how your sons have followed (and are still following) their natural interests in to adult life. To me, finishing university felt like being dragged back to square one with nothing to show for it and no clue as to where to go.
Now, at 28 and as a new father, I feel like I'm only just realising the importance of doing what you suits you, and of doing what you love because you can.
thank you gill, because you always give me an insight and things to think about. in many ways i would love to enter my twenties again like tom and ali in a fulfilling self-directed way, rather than as i did, tumbling out of university, never having done the thing i wanted to do, and just set up for a misdirection all over again. our society needs people like tom and ali to show us where we go wrong.
Yes, Grit, that post-uni experience sounds familiar lol. After 16 years in education I ended up with 5 A levels and a 2:1 degree, but was completely clueless as to what I wanted to do, and pretty hopeless in the workplace. (I used to run out the ofice every time I heard the phone ring because I was too scared to answer it! {g})
I so hope my kids have the opportunity to find and develop their talents without - or in spite of - outside influences, and without getting stuck on some treadmill just because of a single decision made at 14 or 15.
They are already far far more independently-minded and self-confident than I was at that age, so I think the signs are promising.
Gill - Outcomes measured in financial terms? Yeah, it always seems to be the high-fliers who have the breakdowns in their 40 and 50s, turning their backs on all the markers of success. I think it's a shame that they have to spend so many years on the 'success' treadmill before realising they should just do something that they enjoy! lol.
I sincerely hope that your daughters (and everyone else's younger children) can experience the same wonderful freedom as your sons Gill.
Financial (and other quantitative) metrics are used because they are easy. If an individual accepts that the state (and not, say, organic, voluntary communities) is responsible for raising and spending revenue to look after people, educate them, etc. then I think that he or she has to accect that it is reasonable for it to work (at least in part) according to financial outcomes.
However, I would also add that a government needs to figure out how best it can continue to perpetuate and grow its own existence - in which case fattening its herds is fundamental to that. The fact that it only pays lip service to qualitative outcomes says to me that it is less concerned with people's contentedness in life than with its own nest building and lining. Who knows - maybe a Tory govt will be different? But I think not ;-)
You paint a picture of something that is not good for a national or global economy only as far as governments are concerned. But if everybody lived with whomever they wanted, within in what they considered to be their means, worked when and how they wanted to, produced what they wanted when and how they wanted, and voluntarily exchanged/spent what they wanted on what they wanted, then that seems to me to be a pretty ideal economy - not to mention an ideal existence. Not everyone will want to live with their parents (ahem), or work only a handful of hours a week; some will want to spend every single waking hour working - perhaps for someone else. Some people will want a Merc not a Corsa; others will shop at markets not supermarkets. None of these things are right or wrong, they are just matters of personal choice.
And we know that difference is what makes the world go round, which is essentially what we are fighting for at the moment ;-)
Thank you Gill your posts have been missed great to see you back :) even if Grit did drag you kicking and screaming ;)
Gill, when we were first thinking about home education, I somehow found your blog and trawled through all you'd written, and you were a big influence on the direction we are now forging for ourselves. So thank you!
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