📚 Division of Responsibilities Between Local Government and Schools in Home Education | 地方政府与学校在在家教育中的职责分工
Home education sits at the awkward junction between private family choice and public legal obligation. In England, the parent carries the duty to secure education; the local authority carries the duty to identify children who are not receiving it; and the school carries a narrow but critical duty at the moment a child leaves the register. Getting these three roles right – and knowing where they overlap – is a favourite theme in A-Level Government & Politics and Sociology exam papers, because it exposes the tensions between liberty, welfare and accountability.
在家教育恰好位于家庭私人选择与公共法律义务的交界处。在英格兰，家长承担”确保受教育”的义务；地方政府承担”识别未受教育儿童”的义务；而学校则在学生退学登记的关键时刻承担一项范围有限却至关重要的义务。理清这三者的角色分工、并识别其重叠地带，是 A-Level 政府与政治、社会学考试中常见的命题角度，因为它集中暴露了自由、福利与问责之间的张力。
1. Defining Home Education | 界定在家教育
Elective home education (EHE) means that parents have chosen, of their own volition, to educate a child at home rather than sending them to school. It must be distinguished from three neighbouring concepts: ‘education otherwise than at school’ arranged by a local authority as alternative provision; ‘children missing education’ (CME), where a child is neither in school nor being educated at home; and ‘flexi-schooling’, where a pupil attends part-time and learns at home part-time. Examiners reward candidates who separate these categories, because the legal duties attached to each are different.
选择性在家教育（EHE）指的是家长出于自愿，选择让孩子在家中接受教育而非送入学校。它必须与三个邻近概念区分开来：由地方政府安排的”非学校教育”替代性教育供给；”失学儿童”（CME），即既不在校也未在家接受教育的儿童；以及”弹性就学”，即学生部分时间在校、部分时间在家学习。考生若能清晰区分这些类别，往往得分更高，因为每一类所对应的法律义务各不相同。
The distinction that matters most is between parental choice and institutional failure. A child removed from a school register because the family genuinely chose home education is in a completely different legal position from a child quietly removed because the school found them difficult to manage. The first is lawful and requires light-touch oversight; the second may constitute ‘off-rolling’, which regulators treat as a serious failure of school leadership.
- EHE – parental choice; legal under section 7 of the Education Act 1996.
- Alternative provision – arranged by the local authority or school; commissioner holds the duty.
- CME – a safeguarding and attendance failure; local authority must investigate.
- Off-rolling – removal driven by school performance incentives; inspected and sanctioned.
2. The Statutory Baseline: Who Owes What | 法定基线：义务归属
The starting point is section 7 of the Education Act 1996, which places the duty on the parent of every child of compulsory school age to cause that child to receive efficient full-time education suitable to age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs, “either by regular attendance at school or otherwise”. The words “or otherwise” are what make home education lawful in England. Crucially, the duty is owed by the parent, not by the state – the state’s role is residual and supervisory.
起点是《1996年教育法》第7条：它规定义务教育年龄儿童的家长有义务使子女接受”适合其年龄、能力、性向及任何特殊教育需要的、有效且全日制的教育”，方式可以是”正常到校就学，也可以是其他方式”。正是”或其他方式”这一表述，使在家教育在英格兰合法。关键在于：这一义务由家长承担，而非由国家承担——国家的角色是补充性与监督性的。
Local authorities derive their powers largely from sections 436A to 443 of the same Act. Section 436A requires them to make arrangements to identify children in their area who are not receiving suitable education. Section 437 empowers them to intervene where it appears that a child is not receiving suitable education. Schools, meanwhile, are bound by the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 and by safeguarding legislation including the Children Act 2004 and Keeping Children Safe in Education.
| Actor | Core duty | Source |
| Parent | Secure efficient, full-time, suitable education | Education Act 1996, s.7 |
| Local authority | Identify children not receiving suitable education; intervene | Education Act 1996, ss.436A, 437 |
| School | Correctly delete from register; notify the local authority | Pupil Registration Regulations 2006 |
| Both | Safeguard and promote the welfare of the child | Children Act 2004, s.11; CTSA 2015, s.26 |
3. The Local Authority Duty to Identify | 地方政府的识别义务
Section 436A is the pivot of the whole system. It obliges every local authority to have arrangements in place to identify, so far as it is possible to do so, children of compulsory school age in its area who are not receiving suitable education, whether or not they are registered at a school. This is a duty of process rather than outcome: the authority must build the machinery, not guarantee the result.
第436A条是整个制度的枢纽。它要求每个地方政府作出安排，尽可能识别其辖区内未接受适切教育的义务教育年龄儿童——无论这些儿童是否已在某校注册。这是一项”程序性义务”而非”结果性义务”：政府必须建立机制，但不被要求保证结果。
In practice, identification relies on data flows rather than home visits. The Department for Education’s statutory guidance on children missing education expects authorities to use the school census, admissions and exclusions data, health visitor records, housing and police referrals, and to name a designated officer. Between the autumn census and the following census, an authority can compare expected and actual pupil numbers and chase the gaps.
在实践中，识别依靠的是数据流转，而非家访。教育部关于失学儿童的法定指引要求地方政府利用学校普查数据、入学与开除数据、健康访视记录、住房与警方转介信息，并指定专职负责人员。通过在秋季普查与次年普查之间比对预期学生人数与实际人数，政府便可追踪缺口。
Around 80,000 to 100,000 children in England are estimated to be educated at home, and numbers rose sharply after the pandemic. The weakness of the present system is that no one is legally required to tell the local authority that a child is being home educated unless that child was previously on a school roll. A child who has never attended school may simply disappear from official view – the phenomenon known as the “hidden child”.
4. The School’s Role in Deregistration | 学校在退学登记中的角色
A school’s most consequential home-education duty lasts only a few days. Under regulation 8(1)(d) of the Pupil Registration Regulations 2006, where a parent informs the school in writing that the pupil is receiving education otherwise than at school, the school must delete the pupil’s name from the admission register. The parent does not need the school’s permission, and a school that refuses to deregister is acting unlawfully.
学校在在家教育问题上最具实质影响的义务，只在短短几天内发生。依据《2006年学生注册（英格兰）条例》第8(1)(d)条，若家长以书面形式告知学校其子女正以非学校方式接受教育，学校必须将该生姓名从入学名册中删除。家长无需取得学校许可，拒绝办理退学登记的学校属于违法。
Regulation 12 then imposes a reciprocal duty: the school must notify the local authority of the deletion, and must do so promptly. This notification is the single most important conduit between school and council, because it is the moment at which the local authority acquires knowledge of a child who may need monitoring. Where the pupil is at a special school or holds an education, health and care (EHC) plan, guidance expects the school to consult the local authority before deletion, since the plan itself must not simply lapse.
第12条则规定了对应的义务：学校必须将删除登记一事通知地方政府，且须及时完成。这一通知是学校与地方政府之间最重要的传递渠道，因为地方政府正是从此刻起获知某名儿童可能需要监管。若学生就读于特殊学校或持有”教育、健康与照护计划”（EHC计划），指引要求学校在删除登记前咨询地方政府，因为该计划本身不能被简单搁置。
- Do: delete the name, notify the authority within the required period, transfer records, share safeguarding concerns.
- Do not: demand a reason, require a meeting as a condition, delay deletion to protect attendance figures, or “persuade” parents to withdraw a child to protect the school’s position.
5. Assessing Whether Education Is Suitable | 判断教育是否”适切”
The statutory test is deliberately open-textured. “Efficient” means the education achieves what it sets out to achieve; “full-time” is not defined by a fixed number of hours but must be broadly comparable in scale to a school timetable, adjusted for the child’s age and ability; “suitable” means appropriate to age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs. Case law such as Harrison and Harrison v Stevenson (1981) established that education delivered by parents without formal teaching qualifications, and following a flexible curriculum, can still be suitable.
法定标准刻意保持开放。”有效”意味着教育达到了其设定的目标；”全日制”并非以固定课时定义，但必须在规模上与学校课表大体相当，并按儿童年龄与能力作调整；”适切”意味着契合其年龄、能力、性向及任何特殊教育需要。Harrison and Harrison v Stevenson（1981）等判例确立：由不具备正式教师资格的家长、按灵活课程实施的教育，仍可被认定为适切。
Suitable education = efficient
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