Local authorities should have regard to the views of parents and decisions they make about their child’s education. They should seek to support parents’ choices by offering advice, clear and accurate information, and resources where this is feasible.

For children who attend school, the local authority is responsible for their education and for fulfilling a range of duties under the law on additional support for learning. This includes duties to identify their needs and provide them with the support they need to fully benefit from their education. These duties are explained on our webpage What the law says about additional support for learning.

If you choose to home educate your child, the local authority will not be responsible for their education, and therefore they will not have any legal duties under additional support for learning law.

This means that you can still ask the local authority to provide support for your child, or for things like assessments of their needs, but they would not have to say yes. If your child needs extra help to learn, it may be helpful to discuss what support might be available for them with the local authority

If your child is already enrolled at a school, you need to get the local authority’s consent to take your child out of school so that they can be educated at home. The local authority must not refuse consent for you to withdraw your child from school unless they have good reason to do so — for example if they are worried about your child’s welfare, or do not think you can give them the education and support they need.

If your child is not enrolled at a school, for example if:

then you do not need consent from the local authority.

Most local authorities have a contact person or team that consider requests to withdraw a child from school. You can find out who to contact in your area on your local authority’s website, or by contacting the local authority’s education department.

The local authority will need to be satisfied that you can provide your child with an ‘efficient and suitable’ education at home, so you will need to provide some information about how you will do this in your request. The local authority might ask you to give more detailed information if they feel they need it to make a decision.

The education authority may ask you to provide information about things such as:

The local authority must also make sure that your child’s views about being home educated are gathered, listened to, and taken into account.

You do not need to have any formal training or qualifications to home educate your child.

The local authority should aim to decide within six weeks of receiving your request to withdraw your child from school, though this may take longer in some circumstances. The local authority should not unreasonably refuse your request.

If the local authority refuses your request, there is no formal right of appeal. However, you may get the opportunity to resubmit your request with further information. You can also ask if the local authority can review their decision.

You also have the right to ask for independent mediation to resolve any disagreement about home educating your child. If you feel the local authority has been unreasonable in turning down your request, you could also consider making a formal complaint.

The law does not require local authorities to monitor the home education provision you are giving to your child. However, they do have a duty to take action if they are not satisfied that the education being provided at home is ‘efficient and suitable’. The law does not say how they should make sure of this.

Scottish Government guidance recommends that local authorities make contact on an annual basis with families they know are home educating in their area, to talk about their child’s education and progress. They should also involve your child in this conversation if your child wants to.

If the local authority has concerns about the education you are providing, they must check whether it is suitable for your child by asking you to provide more information.

In exceptional circumstances, if the local authority does not think you are able to provide a suitable education for your child and do not think this can be resolved, they can make an attendance order requiring your child to go to school.

Home education should be a positive choice. If your child is at school, the local authority must provide them with the support they need to fully benefit from their education. If you are unhappy with the level of support your child is getting, there are steps that you can take to try and resolve this if you would like for your child to stay in school. If your child’s current school cannot meet their needs, the local authority should explore other ways to provide the support. Find out more in our webpage Solving problems with your child’s school.

If you feel that home education would be best for your child, you can follow the steps above to request consent for your child to be withdrawn from school.

Your child has a right to an education, even if they are finding it difficult to go into school. As long as they are enrolled in school, your local authority is still responsible for their learning. They must provide a way for your child to learn while they are not going into school, as well as the support they need to access that learning, and to return to school when they’re ready. You can read more about this on our pages on Attendance and exclusion.

The law does not cover this kind of arrangement, so this is a complicated issue. Arrangements for a mixture of home and school education are known as ‘flexischooling’. This would mean that:

As the law does not say anything about this kind of arrangement, there is no specific right to ask for flexi-schooling for your child. Local authorities and schools should consider requests for flexi-schooling on a case-by-case basis. It is their decision whether they can support the arrangement.

Flexi-schooling is different to part-time education, where the local authority has full responsibility for providing a pupil with an education, but a decision has been made that is in their best interests to only attend school some of the time for a short period. This might be due to ill health or may be a temporary arrangement while more support or a different school placement is arranged. Find out more in our pages on Attendance and exclusion.

As you are responsible for your child’s education, the local authority does not have to pay towards the costs of any resources you are using to home educate your child. This includes costs for online classes or lessons, if you choose to use them. If you are worried about the costs of home education resources, the Scottish Home Education Form have some tips on their website.

Scottish Government Guidance

The Scottish Government sets out home education guidance. It explains the law on home education in detail, including the rights and responsibilities of parents and local authorities. It also has more detail on the process of removing your child from the school roll, and how decisions are made.  

Parent Club

The Scottish Government’s Parent Club website answers common questions about home education.

Scottish Home Education Forum

The Scottish Home Education Forum was set up by parents home educating their children. They have information, tips, and FAQs for parents on the website.