By James Silver

The State Government wants to impose tough new measures to control the home education system, a support group says.

Bendigo mother, Susan Wight, who is part of the Home Education Network, has slammed the government’s handling of a draft reform bill that calls for the creation of an authority that would regulate home schooling in Victoria.

Ms Wight believes the present requirement that parents provide “regular and efficient instruction” is an effective method of ensuring education is taking place.

She said about 100 central Victorian families home schooled their children, with many becoming high academic achievers.

“Under the regulations we supect they want to introduce it would become a matter of following a curriculum which is possibly why they left in the first place.

“We know the government is concerned about the number of children leaving the state school sytem and bringing in regulations on home schooling is one way they can stem the tide,” she said.

The group has called on Education Minister, Lynne Kosky to make public the regulations the government might introduce.

Ms Wight has three boys who are being home schooled, and said one of the advantages was the ability to tailor their learning to their needs.

Liberty Victoria has supported the group’s campaign, with its president, Brian Walters, writing to Ms Kosky.

“Administrators are not apt to understand the individual needs of children in the way that parents do, and their interference in home education is likely to be harmful rather than productive,” he wrote.

A spokesperson for Ms Kosky said the changes were about balancing the need for children to have appropriate education and protecting the rights of parents to choose how to educate their children.

“What is being proposed is the creation of some fairly fundamental requirements around education of children,” he said.

“It’s still being developed, but there will be fundamental expectations about literacy and numeracy that no parent could argue with.”

Head Start the key for Joel

At 24, Joel Sing has achieved more than many people twice his age.

And he attributes his success to the head start he received by being home schooled.

Mr Sing is a full-time PhD student at LaTrobe University Bundoora, and is also one of the founders of Bendigo-based Ionix Technology.

“I certainly highly recommend it to anyone,” he said.

“It’s been a way for me to do a lot of things which I wouldn’t have been able to achieve otherwise, such as graduating at 18.”

Mr Sing was the youngest ever graduate at LaTrobe University Bendigo when he completed a Bachelor of Computing with Distinction.

Mr Sing’s mother, Carleen, provided most of his education, and allowed him to follow his passion for technology.

“It meant I could do what was of interest to me and allowed me to focus my time and effort at what I excelled at rather than something such as French, that would have been little or no help down the track.”

He said there was no need for increased restrictions on home education.

“If you start imposing a set curriculum you end up back with the problems in the school system, where you are doing things of little or no interest. ”

So looking into the future, would Mr Sing home school his own children?

“Absolutely – there’s no question at all.”

-The Bendigo Advertiser, December 27, 2005