Parental Responsibilities

Under section 576 of the Education Act 1996, a parent is defined in relation to a child or young person as also including any individual:

(a) who is not a parent of his but who has parental responsibility for him, or
(b) who has care of him.

As parents are responsible for ensuring that their children are properly educated, it is their decision whether to use schools or provide education at home.

It is important to note that the duty to secure education is stated entirely in section 7 and nowhere else.

Provided the child is not a registered pupil at a school, the parent is bound by no other constraints. In particular, there is no obligation

to seek permission to educate 'otherwise';
to take the initiative in informing the LEA;
to have premises equipped to any particular standard;
to have any specific qualifications;
to cover the same syllabus as any school;
to adopt the National Curriculum;
to make detailed plans in advance;
to observe school hours, days or terms;
to have a fixed timetable;
to give formal lessons in a classroom;
to reproduce school type peer group socialisation;
to match school, age-specific standards.

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