Press Release from AHEd
For immediate release, Friday 18 September 2009
DCSF GRANTS BADMAN EXTRA TIME TO JUSTIFY FLAWED FINDINGS - HOME EDUCATORS
CRY “FOUL”Home educators today reacted angrily to the news that the DCSF has granted
Graham Badman extra time (1) to gather ‘evidence’ for the Select Committee
Inquiry (2) into his report on Elective Home Education in England (3), in
which he controversially claimed that home educated children are at greater
risk of abuse than schooled children. Formal submissions have been requested
by 22 September, but Mr Badman’s personal “good will” deadline has been
extended until 1 October.Barbara Stark, chair of the home education action group AHEd (4), expressed
incredulity at the development, commenting:“Our members and supporters have been working hard to ensure their
submissions to the Select Committee meet the given deadline, only to find
the goalposts being moved for the benefit of Graham Badman and his chums in
the local authorities. It is a sign of utter desperation that the author of
a report whose draconian recommendations have already been accepted by the
DCSF without question is now pleading with local authorities to provide some
actual evidence to back up his claims.“Mr Badman should perhaps have asked AHEd since we have already done the
work of canvassing every local authority in England using the Freedom of
Information Act and have produced an analysis which has been scrutinised by
a professional statistician.(5) Our data demonstrates that school going
children are more likely to suffer child abuse and neglect than electively
home educated children, which directly contradicts Mr Badman’s alleged
findings. We will obviously be interested in the returns he receives from
these same local authorities since he has chosen to duplicate, at great
public expense, our own voluntary efforts to establish the true situation.”According to home educators, Badman’s letter is tantamount to an admission
of guilt. It is widely believed that his report and recommendations were
based on personal prejudice rather than robust research; that the
consultation was a sham, and the conclusions had been predetermined by the
DCSF as a means of regulating elective home education out of existence. AHEd
member Pete Darby commented, “That the DCSF are forwarding this appeal on
behalf of Mr Badman demonstrates that the repeated claims of his
independence are a sham. He is, was and always has been a tool of the
minister to implement a pre-determined policy.”Ms Stark concluded:
“Since home educators highlighted the fact that such a small sample (25 out
of 150 local authorities) bothered to respond to Graham Badman’s original
call for evidence, he is now appealing for additional information in a vain
attempt to gain some credibility for his seriously flawed report.“The DCSF is aiding and abetting this exercise by allowing him special
privileges while dragging its heels in responding to outstanding FOI
requests from home educators and defending the indefensible. We will be
watching closely.”(1) Elective Home Education (EHE) review - Request for Supplementary Data
(2) Select Committee Inquiry
(3) Review of Elective Home Education in England
(4) AHEd is the democratic action group for home educators in England, Wales
and Northern Ireland. It is a sister organisation to Schoolhouse in
Scotland.
(5) comparative abuse statistics and comment