Ofsted has called for the introduction of a Nazi inspired law in England in a report on home education published today, apparently in defiance of a moratorium instituted by the new coalition government on the work of all government quangos in the children and young people's sector.

Commissioned by the now defunct DCSF to ‘complement’ the discredited Badman report, whose recommendations failed to make it into legislation (either by hook or by crook), the report calls for the forcible registration of all home educators and compulsory access to children by strangers without their parents present.

Having had sight of the poorly constructed questionnaire (which would put a GSCSE student to shame) and realised the con that was being perpetrated against their  community in the guise of a ‘research’ survey, most home educators refused to co-operate with Ofsted. The self serving quango naturally accepted without question the vested interest views of  local authorities and has now predictably produced another example of policy based evidence which will hopefully be shown the inside of a wheelie bin in early course. [Note to Ofsted: the education minister is busy cutting expenditure rather than looking for new ways to spend money.]

As one home educator commented on our forum:

“Now is the time for the government to stamp this out for good. If they have had clearance to publish this, we have been hoodwinked; if they haven't, they are clearly a law unto themselves and  must be got rid of as swiftly as possible. And all that is aside from the fact that of course Ofted has no business poking its nose into home education.”  Indeed.

Home educators are not alone in believing that Ofsted should be abolished as they are nothing more than tick boy tyrants in the business of creating highly paid jobs for themselves as rent seeking ‘experts’. One website dedicated to wresting education from state control agrees, stating:

“Instead of challenging the Government’s model of teachers as technicians the Ofsted inspectors have acted as factory inspectors ensuring that the workforce obey the minutiae of the rule book. It acts as an enforcement agency. It is a leviathan with a culture so alien to the needs of schools that it needs to be swept right away. The culture of engendering fear, disrespectfulness, and undermining professional confidence is so ingrained in the Office for Standards in Education system that tinkering with it is pointless. It should be abolished with a massive saving in public expenditure.”  Quite.

This latest smear tactic on the part of a dying quango is a chilling reminder of how home educators in England might have become subject to the sort of legislation introduced by Hitler (link in German) as part of the nazification of children, legislation which remains in force in Germany today.  Against all the odds, home educators succeeded in defeating the UK government's plans and effectively discredited the Badman report by showing it to have been based on flawed statistics and statist prejudices, and by exposing blatant lies by Labour ministers and local authorities.

It was a hard and bitter struggle which opened many eyes to the true agenda behind Every Child Matters (Every Citizen Monitored), but it also took its toll on ordinary families whose lives were disrupted for 18 months. Now home educators just want to be left alone, especially by politicians of the Ed Balls ilk and all those 'vetted' professionals who appear in our hall of shame, including this Ofsted inspector.

Coalition government, please take note.

UPDATE: Graham Stuart MP has issued this censorious press release in which he makes his views on Ofsted's harassment of home educators abundantly clear.

Thursday 17 June 2010