3. The Law and DfE guidance
3.1 The legal responsibility for a child’s education rests with their parents. In England, education is compulsory, but school is not. The law is set out in the European Convention on Human Rights 1953 and in the Education Act 1996.
3.2 Compulsory school age begins on the next prescribed day following a child’s fifth birthday (or on their fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day). The prescribed days are 31 December, 31 March and 31 August each year. A child continues to be of compulsory school aged until the last Friday of June in the school year that they reach age of sixteen.
3.3 Young people need to then comply with the Raising Participation Age (RPA) legislation 2013, and remain in education or training up until the age of eighteen.
3.4 Article 2 of the Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, 1953, states that ’no person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.’
3.5 Section 7 of the Education Act, 1996, states that: ‘the parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full time education suitable to a) his age, ability and aptitude and b) any special educational needs he may have either by regular attendance at school or otherwise’.
3.6 An “efficient” and “suitable” education is not defined in the Education Act 1996 but has been described in case law (in the case of R v Secretary of State for Education and Science, ex parte Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass School Trust) as an education that ‘achieves that which it sets out to achieve’ and ‘primarily equips a child for life within the community of which he is a member, rather than the way of life in the country as a whole, as long as it does not foreclose the child’s options in later life to adopt some other form of life if he wishes to do so.’
3.7 The DfE Guidance for parents, April 2019, makes a number of points in Section 2.10, ‘What is a Suitable Education’, including:-
- education must be age appropriate, enable the child to make progress according to his or her level of ability and should take account of any specific aptitudes
- even if there is no specific link with the National Curriculum or other external curricula, there should be an appropriate minimum standard which is aimed at
- education at home should not directly conflict with the Fundamental British Values as defined in government guidance
- education may not be suitable (or efficient), even if it is satisfactory in terms of content and teaching, if it is delivered in circumstances which make it difficult to work (eg very noisy)
- education may also not be deemed suitable if it leads to excessive isolation from the child’s peers, and thus impedes social development
- it is likely to be much easier for you to show that the education provided is suitable if attention has been paid to the breadth of the curriculum and its content, and the concepts of progress and assessment in relation to your child’s ability.