Page 4794 - Week 13 - Thursday, 28 November 2019
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Importantly, amendment 9 also requires the director-general to make a decision on an application for home education registration, one way or the other, within 28 days of receiving a completed application that includes all of the particulars required by the Education Act and the regulations. This amendment is being made in response to feedback during consultation to provide parents with confidence that applications will not be ignored or unreasonably delayed. Appropriately, the recourse available to parents should the director-general not comply with this requirement is through administrative law.
Amendment 10 expands on the conditions of registration for home education included in the bill by inserting conditions requiring the parents of a child registered for home education to submit a home education report, and the home base for a child’s education to be suitable for the education of the child.
The requirement to submit a home education report is already included in the Education Act, in section 138. By inserting this requirement as a condition of registration, the government will be better equipped to monitor the quality of home education of a child because, as a condition, a failure to submit a report will allow the director-general to cancel a home education registration.
During consultation one stakeholder—Mr Rattenbury, on behalf of the Greens—raised concerns that the current act and bill overlook the need to set a minimum standard for the home base for home education of a child. After a number of iterations, the government amendments settle on a relatively general condition about the suitability of a home base. The government intends to prepare guidelines that will assist parents to understand the government’s expectations in applying this condition, particularly in more novel circumstances such as when a family is on extended travel and moving from place to place.
Amendment 10 also supports the grace period for new registrations by delaying for three months any requirement for parents to comply with conditions of registration relating to providing a high-quality education and meeting the learning needs of the child.
Amendment 12 clarifies the obligations of parents in the submission of a home education report to the director-general. Parents must submit a home education report by a deadline once every year, and reports must comply with any prescribed requirement.
Amendment 4 inserts a new provision under which the director-general may make guidelines. The government intends that guidelines for home education issued by the director-general will assist home educating parents to have greater certainty and clarity about the government’s expectations of them.
In summary, the government’s amendments establish a framework that strikes a balance between the right of parents to choose home education for their children and the responsibility of the government, on behalf of the community, to look out for the wellbeing of children. I welcome the Assembly’s support of the government amendments.
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