11
April 2014
A
Proposal
by a group of homeschooling families
to the Education Bureau
It
is our hope that through regular and cordial exchanges, we can
enhance mutual understanding with the EDB. Homeschooling is a growing
global trend. In Hong Kong, it has been practising for some time.
There is however still a lot of misunderstanding about it in the
community.
As
dedicated parents who have actively made a choice and work hard to
offer an education more suited to our children's needs and interests,
we and our children feel the joy in the process, but also suffer from
the stress for not being recognized, even worse, to be thought of
doing something illegal or mistaken as over-protective, anti-social,
or being tagged with other undesirable labels rooted out of
society's ignorance about the issue. Yet, far from neglecting our
children, we have probably done much more than a lot of parents who
have left the task of education nearly entirely to schools.
To
make us feel slightly better, this misunderstanding has been
experienced by all homeschool communities around the world.
Therefore, we would like to reach out to explain to the community, in
particular to the EDB, as we feel it is important for the education
policy maker and its staff to understand this issue, so the current
and future generations of homeschooling families can live under a
predictable and stable policy.
Homeschooling
is not something that will come and go. It is a global trend that is
set to grow, partly because parents are more educated, partly there
is a stronger pursuit of a work-life balance, partly because of the
over-demand from schools, partly because of the advance of internet
and availability of quality and free online education platforms like
Khan Academy and Cousera, and many other more avenues to learn
besides schools.
Homeschool
families in Hong Kong, like in other places, choose to homeschool for
a variety of reasons, but all point to a desire to provide a more
suitable education for our children. We want to stress we are not
against schools. We recognise schools are an important element in the
education system and they are suitable for some children. We are
simply exercising our right to choose. The government is doing the
society a lot of good for providing education to those who do not or
cannot choose. We hope that our choice and our dedication can be
recognized by the government and society.
We
hope:
- To make homeschooling a recognized choice of education, and
- that homeschool students can enjoy the same rights as school students.
- Homeschool families can be given high autonomy about choice and mode of education, including the choice of examinations.
Our
proposal is based on the following existing provisions in
international and local laws and policies:
1.
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights Article 26
Parents
have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be
given to their children.
2.
Hong
Kong Basic Law Article 137
Students
shall enjoy freedom of choice of educational institutions and freedom
to pursue their education outside the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region.
3.
Education
Ordinance
Section
3: INTERPRETATION Version
Date: 01/07/2007
"school"
(學校)
means an institution, organization or establishment which provides
for 20 or more persons during any one day or 8 or more persons at any
one time, any nursery, kindergarten, primary, secondary or post
secondary education or any other educational course by any means*,
including correspondence delivered by hand or through the postal
services; (Amended 38 of 1983 s. 2; 42 of 1993 s. 2)
(*This
enables home or other outside-of-school learning)
4.
Section74:
Power of Permanent Secretary to order attendance at primary school or
secondary school
Where
it appears to the Permanent Secretary that a child is not attending
primary school or secondary school
without
any reasonable
excuse*,
the Permanent Secretary may, after making such inquiries as he
considers necessary, serve upon a parent of the child an attendance
order in the specified form requiring him to cause the child to
attend regularly as a pupil the primary school or secondary school
named in the attendance order.
(3) This section shall-
(c) not apply to a child-
(iii) who is attending
regularly, or is an inmate of, an institution (other than a school)**
which is regarded by the Permanent Secretary as suitable for the
child.
(*
allowing broad interpretation)
(**
enabling home or other outside-of-school learning)
- Status for non-Hong Kong permanent residents:
According
to the EDB website FAQ on universal basic education:
The
Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is
committed to provide nine-year free universal basic education to all
eligible local children, including non-Chinese speaking ethnic
minority children. Under
the existing policy, all parents must send their children (aged 6 –
15) who have the right of abode* in Hong Kong to attend schools.
(*
This enables non-HK residents to freely conduct home or out-of-school
education, without the need of supervision from the EDB. But it
excludes non-permanent residents from any right to education. )
- Code on Access to Information
The
Government exists to serve the community well within available
resources. To this end, it recognises the need for the community to
be well informed about the Government, the services it provides and
the basis for policies and decisions that affect individuals and the
community as a whole.*
(*The
majority of the population is ignorant about the legal provisions
regarding homeschooling, and an application seems not to be met by
guidance on the legal provisions in accordance to the code of access
to information.)
7.
Global Practice:
In
most first world countries, homeschool is an accepted part of
education landscape. It is also practised
legally in Asia, e.g. Singapore, Philippines and Taiwan.
8.
Taiwan experience:
Taiwan
specifically legalized homeschooling (non-school experimental
education非學校形態 實驗教育)
since 1999 (Taipei since 1997). Parents can apply for homeschooling
with the local education authority. They have to fill out a form
detailing reasons and education plan, be interviewed by a widely
representative panel, and if successful, furnish a progress report
every year. They are not required to sit an exam every year.
Homeschool
students enjoy the same right as any school student. They will be
allocated a place at a nearby school. They can use facilities and
resources in the school, can take lessons and exams (or not) at the
school. They will be given a graduation certificate if they fulfil
the ‘contract’ (education plan) they made with the education
authority.
A
Taiwan elementary school headmistress says cooperation with
homeschoolers is not difficult. Despite not being supported by
teachers at the beginning, now teachers are scrambling for
homeschool students in their class because of less work pressure.
Our
Comments:
Legal
perspective:
As shown in pt. 3 & 4 above, the law in Hong Kong actually
provides space for the practice of home education, but the general
public, the education sector and even the EDB itself is treating it
as if it were illegal. Without clearly providing a legal basis for
home or outside-of-school education under the age of 15, EDB is
neglecting the provision in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and also the Basic Law, which offers an even more liberal approach,
saying the ‘students’ have the freedom to choose.
Policy
perspective:
The EDB has been allowing some families, after investigation and
interviews plus ongoing home visits, to practice education at home.
We appreciate EDB officers’ understanding and work so far to
provide for families in need for other-than-school learning
environment, which is not easy for them under the current ‘obscure’
legal and policy arrangements. The official departmental policy
conveyed to parents is at odds with the legal situation.
Nevertheless, officers have been friendly and understanding, and have
been giving parents a high degree of autonomy in education choice.
However,
despite the presence of a policy towards homeschoolers and a form for
homeschool application, this information is not available on the EDB
website, and there is no known channel to make an application. When
parents try to ask, the first response will normally be threatening,
highlighting the possible negative effect of not going to school,
which is a fine and imprisonment. Many will be scared away. However,
it does not mean that they won’t try doing it ‘underground’. We
don’t think this is healthy.
Our
Recommendations:
- EDB should have a separate registry for homeschoolers.
- Regular sharing between the homeschool community and the EDB to enhance mutual understanding.
- Make information available: A tab can be added in EDB website for people to access the homeschool application form, the various requirements and reach relevant officers for advice.
- The EDB can continue the current methods used to monitor registered homeschoolers.
- A school can be designated in each district to take homeschool students. Preferably those which have more facilities and resources to share or those who like to have the experience of having “exchange students”. Alternatively, schools can be asked to volunteer to be a 'homeschool link'. We expect a number of schools will be interested because of the prospect of having students with a diversity of backgrounds.
- The policy should be as liberal and flexible as possible, so as to minimize administration and maximize choice.
- There should be no requirements for compulsory examinations or assessments.
Conclusion:
We
hope, through properly recognizing homeschooling, dedicated parents
can organize and conduct an education suitable for their children
without fear and stress over their legal status, and can be aided to
do so with appropriate government support.
This
will relieve students who are not suited to the current mode of mass
education at schools, and parents of the stress to keep trying
different schools.
Expatriates
will be more encouraged to come to work in HK knowing that there can
be a choice to homeschool when they can’t get a place in
international schools, which is common.
This
will enable Hong Kong education to flourish, through the
encouragement of diversity, and a happier population in general, when
people are presented with choice. It will help relieve teachers’
workload in the long run and encourage teaching creativity when they
are less stressed. It will also put Hong Kong on a par with the
international league like Finland, USA, Canada, UK, and many others
that have legalized home education.
-The
End-
