Policy Press

Education without Schools

Discovering Alternatives

By Helen E. Lees

Published

Nov 8, 2013

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1447306412

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Nov 8, 2013

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1447323457

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Nov 8, 2013

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1447323464

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press
Education without Schools

At a time when education and school choices are under increasing scrutiny, this topical book considers education more broadly than ever before. The author, an experienced teacher and researcher, highlights what happens when parents discover that an alternative to school education exists and is legal. This under-researched topic highlights the lack of governmental interest in alternative education and also considers the human rights issues, conflation with safeguarding, the relationship of the state to education and parental education choice.

Focusing on the discovery of elective home education (EHE) in England as a case study for new and necessary arguments, the ideas discussed are also relevant internationally. The book considers the global fact of education as not just mainstream schooling, but how the dominance of schooling has affected our ability to conceive of education as diverse and different. This thought-provoking book will appeal to academic, teaching and policy-making audiences.

"This important and thought-provoking book makes a sustained case for an alternative to the ‘educationalist paradigm’...Above all, this is a hopeful book and one I would thoroughly recommend to anyone who understands (or could be persuaded to understand) education as, ‘a plurality of possibilities’." Other Education

"Thoughtful and interesting to read...Lees has gone further than most other writers on home education in her efforts to theorize the movement such that it becomes a coherent and viable option for 21st century families.” International Centre for Home Education Research

"This study is a valuable and welcome contribution in an area of education which has so far received little attention from researchers in the UK." Family Education Trust Bulletin

“Home schooling is under-researched and often misunderstood. Helen Lees' excellent Education without schools goes a long way to remedying this. It combines insightful empirical work with rigorous conceptual analysis. It makes a major contribution to defining the field.” Professor Michael J Reiss, Institute of Education, University of London.

Helen E. Lees is Associate Research Fellow, Faculty of Education and Theology, York St John University. She has worked as a teacher in a local authority education-outside-of-school unit and a wide variety of mainstream and alternative educational settings, from schools to prisons and hospitals. She is founding Editor-in-Chief of Other Education, the online journal of educational alternatives.

Setting the scene;

Against educationism;

Why is elective home education important?;

The theory of the gateless gate of home education;

Moments of discovery;

Against discovery of education without schools;

School exit and home education;

Understanding discovery differences;

Concluding remarks.