SOARING numbers of parents are teaching their children at home because they are not happy with the quality of state education, according to Government research.
The study, conducted by a Leeds company, York Consulting, for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), said at least 16,000 children in England may now be educated at home, which would be a threefold increase since 1999.
Many parents were wor
ried about bullying and poor discipline in state schools and dissatisfied with the quality of state education, the research found.
Others thought children were required to start formal schooling too young.
The report said: "Some of the parents interviewed felt that standards of education had declined.
"This, coupled with a view that the current education system is overly bureaucratic, inflexible and assessment-driven, prompted some parents to home-educate."
Children were withdrawn from school due to bullying, as well as concern over other pupils' "anti-social behaviour and poor levels of conduct".
The majority of parents who took their children out of school were white British. But religious and cultural reasons prompted Muslim, Christian, gipsy, Roma and traveller families to teach youngsters at home.
Researchers found children tended to be removed from state education between finishing primary and starting secondary school.
Some parents used formal and highly-structured methods, including following the national curriculum and hiring tutors. Others were less conventional in their approach.
Parents told the re-searchers that a home education brought significant benefits for their children.
The report said: "Beneficial effects reported by parents included high levels of confidence and self-esteem, a close relationship between parent/carer and child, self-directed learning and the development of skills in line with, or in advance of, age-related peers."
The study suggested the figure of 16,000 children could significantly underestimate the true picture as official records were poor.
But because local authorities have had such limited figures on home education, the rise could also be down to more recent improvements in record keeping.
Researchers examined nine local authorities in England – which took part on condition that they were not ident-ified, interviewing council staff and parents as well as home education organisations.
