As parents and guardians, our job is to make sure our children are well provided for in all their needs, the physical ones and the mental ones. Since education needs to be all about the children, the most important thing when home educating them is to make sure we provide a high quality education. And this point is exactly what we, parents and guardians, are seeking when we decide to change the current education style - that might not be working for our children - and move to home education.
So with the help of the Queensland Education Act, section 5 and 7, let's understand a bit better how we can make sure our children are receiving high quality education.
Note: In this article, we referred to the parts of the act that apply to Home Education and left out the ones that apply only to the State School Education. The whole Queensland Education Act PDF is available for download at the end of this article for further research.
Sec 5
(1) The objects of this Act are—
(a) to make available to each Queensland child or young person a high-quality education that will—
(i) help maximise his or her educational potential; and
(ii) enable him or her to become an effective and informed member of the community;
Sec 7
The principles intended to guide the achievement of this Act’s objects are the following
(a) parents have the responsibility of choosing a suitable education environment for their children;
(b) education should be provided to a child or young person in a way that
(i) provides positive learning experiences; and
(ii) promotes a safe and supportive learning environment; and
(iii) recognises his or her educational needs;
(c) children and young people should be actively involved in decisions affecting them to the extent that is appropriate having regard to their age and ability to understand;
(d) the State, parents, teachers, school communities and non-government entities should work collaboratively to foster a commitment to achieving the best educational outcomes for children and young people;
It's important to understand that High Quality Education is not only to guide our planning and day a day activities with the children but also to help us with the reporting requirements of the Home Education process.
When we are in the registration stage, we need to show what are the plans for the coming year to meet the high quality education requirements. This plan will also be used after 10 months, on the reporting stage, where you can refer to it and explain your child development. Here is a brief guide as to how to explain the plan for each high quality requirement:
1. Help maximise his or her potential.
Discuss what you and the child believes are her/his strengths. Are there goal(s) for the future? What needs to be done to achieve the goal(s)? These goals can be broken down into mini steps and reported on in 10 months.
2. Enable him or her to become an effective and informed member of the community.
What is planned to develop civil awareness? How is community awareness developed?
3. Parents have the responsibility of choosing a suitable education environment for their children.
Note the physical environments the child will work in.
Note the human resources you will use - ex: the parent, family, people with expertise
Note the physical resources - ex: trampoline, trees, etc.
Note the IT resources - ex: computer, apps, software and programming kits.
Note the local resources - ex: library, museum, gym, park, Uni, train etc.
Note the smaller resources - home library, games, kitchen, study area etc
4. Provide a safe and supportive learning environment.
Talk about the approach you will take with the child regarding learning. Note positive things that enhance safety - continuity of engagement with parents, secure surroundings, emphasising learning areas the child thrives in.
5. Provide positive learning experiences.
Write about the different ways you will work with your child and why they are appropriate. Explain how does your child like to work. What things does your child feel positive about?
6. Recognise his or her educational needs.
What areas does your child have strong interests in? How are you going to cater for these? Which areas does your child not have a lot of interest in but you think that they would benefit from some attention in? How are you aiming to manage this?
7. Actively and appropriately involving children in decisions affecting them
This is where your child could be "interviewed" and give her/his opinions regarding each learning area and the goals being set. This part could be filled in at the same time as the previous one.
8. Reengage young people in education and training
If your child is being home educated because of school "burn out" then discuss yours and your child's ideas for reengaging them.
You could note what were the negative experiences she/he was having at school or the shortcomings you felt were apparent.
9. Developing ways to improve the social outcomes of young people
This may or may not be necessary depending on the reason why your child wasn't adapting to school. Perhaps write about social engagement possibilities for your child in the local area or wider. Write about her/his hobbies and how they enjoy spending their free time, etc.
10. Resources Summary
You can repeat what you wrote on section 3, or add any additional resources and materials that wasn't mentioned before.
As said earlier, all of these sections are required when submitting the registration - as your plan for the coming year - and when reporting - to compare the progress and development of your child against the goals proposed in the initial registration.
If you have any questions or need any support during this or any phase of your journey, don't hesitate in getting in contact with our support group! :)
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