"On behalf of all home educators..."

[Renegade Parent]

Gill tackles the thorny issue of representation when interacting with your local authority:

Quote:

...the very first thing I always make a point of clearly stating in any meeting with my local authority, is the bleedin' obvious:

"I am not here claiming to represent anyone else other than myself. Some other home educators know we're coming, and roughly what we're going to ask for, but of course not all of them know this. I cannot - and I do not pretend to - speak on behalf of them."

Quote:

My views hold as much weight on their own as they would if I was claiming to speak on behalf of the [imaginary: even home educators don't know all the other home educators!] collective. I don't need to puff myself up and pretend to have power (psychic or otherwise!) that I plainly don't have. The Local Authority knows I can't possibly canvas the opinion of every single home educator in the area. Many of these aren't even online and even if they all were, I can't guarantee they've read and agreed with all of my stated positions. And yet, representing myself is sufficient for them to engage and negotiate with me.

Read the rest of this excellent post here.