Homeschooling international status and statistics
is legal in many countries. Countries with the most prevalent home education movements include Australia, Canada, [|New Zealand], the United Kingdom, and the United States. Some countries have highly regulated home education programs as an extension of the compulsory school system; few others, such as Germany, have outlawed it entirely. In some other countries, while not restricted by law, homeschooling is not socially acceptable, or considered undesirable and is virtually non-existent.
Status of homeschooling across continents
Africa
North America
| Country or Region | Status | Statistics | Sources |
| Canada | Legal under regulating conditions | 60,000+ | |
| Greenland | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | |
| United States | Legal under regulating conditions, varies by state. | Around 2.5 million |
Latin America and the Caribbean
Asia
| Country or Region | Status | Statistics | Sources |
| Armenia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | WP |
| Azerbaijan | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | WP |
| Georgia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | |
| India | Legal as alternative to the mandatory public school system | 500 - 1000 children | |
| Indonesia | Legal as alternative to the mandatory public school system. | ||
| Israel | Legal under regulating conditions | 448 children as of 2013/14 | :he:חינוך ביתי#המצב כיום|חינוך ביתי בישראל |
| Kazakhstan | Not illegal, but not provided by law. Legal and provided for gifted and disabled students. Door to door checks conducted regularly. Legal for non-residents. | Many expat families homeschool. | |
| Philippines | Legal | More than 9000 | |
| North Korea | Illegal, public education is mandatory with no known exceptions. | ||
| South Korea | Prohibited by law, but law is unclear and the cause is supported by business leaders, therefore homeschoolers do not generally experience issues with authorities. | ||
| Taiwan | Legal since 2011 | ||
| Thailand | Legal since 2004 | ||
| Turkey | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | WP |
Europe
Oceania
| Country or Region | Status | Statistics | Sources |
| Australia | Legal as alternative to the mandatory public school system. | 15,000 | |
| New Zealand | Legal as alternative to the mandatory public school system. | 6,500 |
Legality by country or region
Africa
Kenya
Homeschooling is currently permitted in Kenya.The freedom of homeschooling is however under threat in Kenya, because a new education law has been proposed that does not make any allowance for homeschooling.
South Africa
During apartheid, home education was illegal in South Africa. The parents Andre and Bokkie Meintjies were jailed in 1994–, and their children were placed in separate orphanages while the parents were jailed at correctional facilities very far from each other and the children to prevent family contact, because they educated their children at home. However, a few years later, the Mandela government legalised home education with the publication of the South African School Act in 1996. Since it was legalised, homeschooling has the fastest growing education model in the country.Homeschooling is legal according to South African national law, but individual provinces have the authority to set their own restrictions. The SA Schools Act requires parents to register their children for education at home. In practice however, most provincial departments do not have the administrative capability to register children for home education. Some of the larger provincial departments have limited administrative capabilities to register children for home education as well as a lack of follow up capacity, resulting in a serious miscommunication between government and citizens. As a result of this situation, more than 90% of homeschooling parents do not register with the department.
Since home education was legalised, it has grown exponentially. According to the census count of 2011, there were about 57 000 home learners in the country, putting South Africa in the top five countries in terms of number of home learners.
Americas
Argentina
Article 129 of the National Education Law in Argentina says that parents must ensure that their children attend school. Children can be homeschooled, but parents need to apply for permission from The Provintial Council of EducationThe law that can be used to obtain permission is Article 26 of the Regulatory Decree 572/62, where home is mentioned as one of the ways to ensure compulsory education of children
Brazil
Enrollment in schools in Brazil is mandatory for people aged 4–17.Homeschooling in South America has not taken hold as it has in North American countries of Canada and the United States. In 1824, Brazil permitted home education to take the place of traditional education for nearly 70 years. Many proposals were made in regards to the homeschooling regulations, but many of them were rejected. In 1990, however, The Statute of Children and Adolescents, or the Estatuto da Criança e Adolescente, prohibited homeschooling and did not recognize it as a legitimate form of education.
A couple, a Brazilian mother and an American father, was investigated in 2010 by the municipal government of Serra Negra, São Paulo, for homeschooling their children. The local authorities were tipped off by an anonymous source because the couple's two daughters did not attend school. The Public Ministry expected to reach an agreement with the family to enlist the children in formal schools.
There was a proposal to evaluate Homeschooling in Brazil and a previous proposal has already been rejected in 2008. The federal supreme court has never made a pronouncement on homeschooling, leaving its legalization unknown. A resurgence in the homeschooling movement, however, has encouraged congressman Lincoln Portela to introduce a new bill in 2013 that would allow children to be educated at home if parents followed state approved guidelines. In 2018 the Supreme Court ruled that homeschooling was illegal, due in part to a lack of legislation regulating the practice. In 2019, was created a new law project to legalize Homeschooling in the country with annual exams.
The National Association of Home Education was founded in 2010. Rough estimates state that around 3,201 families are homeschooling in 2016.
Canada
Homeschooling is legal in all provinces and territories in Canada and has been for 40 years. The Ontario Education Act, for example, states in Section 21 that "A person is excused from attendance at school if the person is receiving education elsewhere". Canada is known as having some of the most comprehensive legal protections for homeschooling parents in the Americas. Some provinces have implemented policies that require parents to notify school boards of their decision to homeschool. Every province requires parents to notify the school system of their intent to withdraw their child from the public school system and to begin home education. Five of ten provinces additionally require parents to submit a detailed curriculum to the state. Seven of these provinces do not require the program to be monitored by the school board or other private school administrators, and only five provinces require routine inspection of home education. These policies, however, are not law; although Canadian legislators recognize the importance of state controls in the homeschooling environment, it is ultimately up to the parent to decide when and how to homeschool. Despite a positive environment that supports and encourages alternatives to traditional schooling, it is estimated that less than 0.5% of Canadian families were homeschooling in 2015. This number is probably inaccurate, however, as many parents do not report their decisions to homeschool.Approximately 1% to 2% of North American children are homeschooled, which includes about 60,000 in Canada. Back in 1995, Meighan estimated the total number of homeschoolers in Canada, to be 10,000 official and 20 000 unofficial. Karl M. Bunday estimated, in 1995, based on journalistic reports, that about 1 percent of school-age children were homeschooled. In April 2005, the total number of registered homeschool students in British Columbia was 3 068. In Manitoba, homeschoolers are required to register with Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth. The number of homeschoolers is noted at over 1500 in 2006; 0.5% of students enrolled in the public system.
Unlike the United States, where homeschooling is largely a consequence of religious conviction, a study of 1,600 families in 2003 found that Canadians primarily choose to homeschool out of a desire to provide better education. For those children whose parents decided to homeschool out of a desire to better education, a 2003 study found statistical significance between traditionally schooled and homeschooled students scores on standardized tests of writing, reading, and mathematics. A more recent 2011 study found that style of home education was a more important predictor of standardized test performance than other traditional measures, such as income and parents' educational attainment. These findings are similar to findings in U.S. research on homeschooled children and the outcomes of homeschooling.
One technique that is specifically Canadian, specifically British Columbian, is the Distributed Learning approach to home education. Distributed Learning is an online program that is directed by a teacher that meets provincial standards for education. The program draws on public and private curricula. This is distinctive to British Columbia because it is the only province that has Distributed Learning policy. It is one of the most popular forms of home education.
United States
| Year | Homeschooled students | Percentage change since 1999 |
| 1999 | 0.85 | - |
| 2003 | 1.10 | +29.4% |
| 2007 | 1.50 | +76.5% |
| 2012 | 1.77 | +108.2% |
In "The Condition of Education 2000–2009," the National Center for Education Statistics of the United States Department of Education reported that in 2007, the number of homeschooled students was about 1.5 million, an increase from 850,000 in 1999 and 1.1 million in 2003. The percentage of the school-age population that was homeschooled increased from 1.7 percent in 1999 to 2.9 percent in 2007. The increase in the percentage of homeschooled students from 1999 to 2007 represents a 74 percent relative increase over the 8-year period and a 42 percent relative increase since 2003. In 2007, the majority of homeschooled students received all of their education at home, but some attended school up to 25 hours per week. Currently, many also participate in homeschool cooperatives as well as utilize the resources of private tutors and community college-based programs, which allow students to earn college credits before attending college.
According to the US National Center for Education Statistics, homeschooling increased in popularity in the United States during the 2000s; the percentage of children ages 5 through 17 who were homeschooled increased from 1.7% in 1999 to 3% in 2011/12. The study found that 83 percent were White, 5 percent were Black, 7 percent were Hispanic, and 2 percent were Asian or Pacific Islander. As of 2019, there are about 1.8 million homeschooled students in the United States. The NHES 2016 found the highest rate of homeschooling among parents who had not completed high school, followed by parents with bachelor’s degrees.
Uruguay
While Uruguayan constitution guarantees freedom of education, the government is interpreting this as "freedom to choose your state regulated education institution". Article 7 section 2 of the LGE calls into question whether “home schooling” is possible in Uruguay, since it states that “Fathers, mothers, or legal guardians of boys, girls, and adolescents have the obligation to register them in a school and watch over their attendance and learning.”Asia
Israel
Homeschooling is legal in Israel, and requires acquiring a permission from the Ministry of Education. The permission involves a home visit from the person in charge of handing out the permissions, and writing a letter describing the motives, curriculum, daily routine and socialization of the children. Unschooling is legal, and the requirements are minimal. The reasons for homeschooling in Israel are very similar to those of the rest of the world, with the exception of religious motives, since religious schools are prevalent.There is unclear information regarding the number of Homeschooling families, since not all families ask for permission, and many homeschool their children without enlisting. Estimates range between 500–1000 families.
People's Republic of China
Under China's education laws children are required to enroll in the school system from age seven and attend for nine years. No specific regulations exist for home-schooling, though it can be allowed subject to approval as a non-governmental organization. Despite its legal status, some parents in China opt for home-schooling for reasons including dissatisfaction with the country's test-oriented public schools and a desire to individualize the education of their children. There are no official figures for home-schooling, though one survey found that 18,000 children received home-schooling in the People's Republic of China, while an education policy researcher at Beijing Normal University estimated the portion of students receiving home-schooling at less than one percent. In 2017 a survey found about 6,000 families home-schooled their children, an annual rise of about 33%. Officials are divided on addressing home-schooling, with many supporting its legalization and others supporting compelling students to return to the regular school system. Education experts generally support allowing home-schooling, but call for the creation of national standards.Hong Kong
Homeschooling in Hong Kong is not against the law. This has been confirmed by the previous Permanent Secretary of the Education Bureau, Cherry Tse Ling Kit Ching and also raised by Legislator Dennis Kwok at a meeting of the Legislative Council. The EDB treats homeschooling on a case by case basis. However, many people in Hong Kong think that homeschooling is illegal in Hong Kong, so only a few people were taught at home.India
In India, under Right to education, The Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Government has established an independent body to look after the system of Home Schooling. It is in fact, an open schooling system where students can learn anywhere and appear for examinations conducted by NIOS. 0.5 million take admission every year. 2.71 million admission during last 5 years through Open Schooling of Indian Govt.Indonesia
Homeschooling in Indonesia is regulated under National Education System 2003 under division of informal education. This enables the children of Homeschooling to attend an equal National Tests to obtain an "Equivalent Certificate". The homeschooling is recently becoming a trend in upper-middle to upper-class families with highly educated parents with capability to provide better tutoring or expatriate families living far away from International School.Since 2007 the Indonesia's National Education Department took efforts in providing Training for Homeschooling Tutors and Learning Media even though the existence of this community is still disputed by other Non Formal education operators.
school.
Japan
School attendance is compulsory but the fine for non attendance is rarely applied and amounts to less than ten thousand yen. The authorities encourage futoko children to receive schooling in alternative ways including home education.Republic of China (Taiwan)
Homeschooling in Taiwan, Republic of China is legally recognized since 1982 and regulated as a possible form of special education since 1997.Thailand
Homeschooling used to be heavily restricted from the misunderstanding of the concerned Area Based Officers because they've worked only for the school in the different Rules&Regulations for a long time. Nowadays, the Homeschooling Network of Thai Alternative Education Council Association is connecting together around the country to help the parents perform the registration following as National Education Laws and also working together with the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand to protect parents'Rights. Additionally, the online communication can promote the Rights of the parents to choose any suitable education for their children as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, : ICESCR said, especially for Homeschool Concept.Turkey
In the Republic of Turkey, all children are required to be registered in state or private school so as to be in compliance with the National Education Basic Law. Distance education is also available through Turkey's national television channels. Through this particular option, students go to a particular test site and take examinations based on what they have studied. In Turkey, parents who fail to send their children to school are charged as criminals, which at times may result in their incarceration. Due to the above legal constraints, Turkish parents face a great deal of difficulty in pursuing homeschooling for their children.Europe
[|Austria]
Homeschooling is legal in Austria. Since Provisorischen Gesetz über den Privatunterricht from 27 June 1850 there is no need to have a teacher exam for teaching children. The homeschooling has to be announced by §11 SchPfl to Landesschulrat, since 2019 to Bezirksdirektion. They can decided within one month to reject the homeschooling, if it is predictable that the children will not learn the same as in school. The parents then can challenge this at the same site.However, every homeschooled child is required to take an exam per year in a school, to ensure that he or she is being educated at an appropriate level. If the child fails the test, he or she must attend a school the following year. The same test is also required by children on private schools without government rights.
The parents have to inscribe the children on Einschreibungszeit usually in first weeks of january at that Schulsprengel, that has to fulfill Unterrichtspflicht from 1 September on. inscription dates where published at the school, while it is not clear on which law it is based. The Schulsprengel ist described by state law for each Dorf, Weiler, Gemeinde, Stadt.
In the school year 2012/'13, there were 1820 homeschooled children in Austria. In the year 2017/'18, the number rose to 2320.
Belgium
Homeschooling is legal in Belgium and is considered a constitutional right. Children have to be registered as home-educated.In Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of the country, children need to be registered for exams before age 12. If the parents fail to do so, the child is required to attend school. Those who are registered need to pass specific exams at age 13 and 15. If they fail one of those exams two times the parents need to register their child in a certified school. In the French Community of Belgium, they are tested at 8, 10, 12, and 14. The tests are new and there is still a lot of confusion on the tests and the legal situation around them.
Croatia
Home education was legal in Croatia in 1874 when Croatian law stated that parents have a duty to educate their children either at home or by sending them to school. The child had to pass an exam in a public school at the end of every school year.The primary education in Croatia is compulsory from the age of six to fifteen and it spans eight grades.
In September 2010 a religious organisation Hrvatska kršćanska koalicija submitted a proposal to change the law so home education would become legal in Croatia. The civil organization Obrazovanje na drugi način joined in and is now working on its own proposal.
The proposed model is based on [|Slovenian] and [|Montenegrin] model of home education. The child is required to enroll into a local school and pass an annual exam in certain subjects. If the child does not pass all the exams in two attempts, it is ordered to continue the education with regular school attendance. Every year the parents have to notify the school by the end of May that they will be educating their child at home.
Like in the case of [|Slovenia] and [|Montenegro], the proposed model does not impose any limitation on who can home educate. The parents educating their children at home are not eligible to receive any kind of state help. The schools are free to choose whether they will allow special arrangements with children educated at home. The Ministry of Education and schools are not required to provide any form of help to parents of children educated at home.
The proposed model was chosen as it requires minimal change to the existing law and would be possible to implement within the current educational framework. The Croatian Constitution, in the Article 63 paragraph 1, states that parents have a duty to school their children. Similarly, in the Article 65 paragraph 1, it states that primary schooling is compulsory and free. It is deeply ingrained in Croatian culture that education cannot happen without schooling.
As of July 2011 there are three alternative primary schools in Croatia – one Montessori and two Steiner Waldorf schools. Alternative schools in Croatia are required to follow national curriculum.
Czech Republic
The Ministry of Education began an experiment on September 1, 1998 in which home education was made a legal alternative for students in the first five years of elementary school. In 2004 home education, referred to as Individual Education, was enshrined in the Education Act for children within that age group. On September 1, 2007 a new experiment began allowing the home education of children up to the 9th grade.Denmark
It follows from § 76 in the [|Danish] constitution that homeschooling is legal. All children must be educated for 10 years. The education can be received at home or in private school, but must meets the requirements of what is commonly required in government schools. Inspections are mandatory. Although parents have to pay for the material them self, while paying to the public school system. This is a very expensive alternative, with the risk of you being forced to move your child to a public school, due to inspections being done by the public school system.Finland
In Finland homeschooling is legal but unusual, which is in contrast to [|Sweden], where homeschooling is more restricted. The parents are responsible for the child getting the compulsory education and the advancements are supervised by the home municipality. The parents have the same freedom to make up their own curriculum as the municipalities have regarding the school, only national guiding principles of the curriculum have to be followed.Choosing homeschooling means that the municipality is not obliged to offer school books, health care at school, free lunches or other privileges prescribed by the law on primary education, but the ministry of education reminds they may be offered. The parents should be informed of the consequences of the choice and the arrangements should be discussed.
France
Home education is legal in France and requires the child to be registered with two authorities, the 'Inspection Académique' and the local town hall. Children between the ages of 6 and 16 are subject to annual inspection.Since September 2019, compulsory education starts from the age of 3. So annual inspection is achieved first time at the age of 3. Probably from september 2020 compulsory education will rise to age of 18.
Every other two years, the social welfare, mandated by the mayor, verifies the reasons the family home educates and controls that the training provided is consistent with the health of the child. Parents will also be subject to annual inspections if they are teaching children between the ages of 6 and 16. Two consecutive unsatisfactory outcomes of these inspections can mean the parents will have to send their children to a mainstream school.
While homeschooling parents are free to teach their children in any way they like, the children must remain every year at a skill level that complies with high probability to master the seven key competencies of the common foundation of competence at the end of the legal obligation. The key competencies are:
- Written and spoken French
- Maths/basic sciences and technology
- At least one foreign language
- French, European and World history and geography & Art
- Computer science
- Social and civic competences
- Initiative and autonomy
- Ask questions
- Make deductions from their own observations and documents
- Be able to reason
- Generate ideas, be creative and produce finished work
- Use computers
- Use resources sensibly
- Evaluate risks
French organisations involved in homeschooling include Les Enfants D'Abord, LAIA, CISE and Hors Des Murs.
Germany
Homeschooling is illegal in Germany with rare exceptions. Mandatory school attendance has been in place since 1918. The requirement to attend school has been upheld, on challenge from parents, by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. Parents violating the laws have primarily or most prominently been Christians seeking a more religious education than that offered by the schools. Sanctions against these parents have included fines of thousands of euros, successful legal actions to remove children from the parents' custody, and prison sentences. It has been estimated that 600 to 1,000 German children are homeschooled, despite its illegality. Meanwhile, homeschooling is legal in Austria and [|Switzerland].Up until 1919, homeschooling in Germany was seen as an acceptable practice under certain circumstances, but more for higher class people. Many states developed school systems before and with the rise of the Weimar Republic some reforms were proposed. In the Nazi regime, homeschooling was seen as an anti-nationalistic and subversive practice that could undermine children's loyalty to their country. The Reichsschulpflichtgesetz, implemented in 1938, effectively banned all homeschooling with criminal consequences for anyone found practicing. This is one of the few Nazi laws that is followed in present-day Germany.
In 1989, Helmut Stücher removed his children from the public school system to begin homeschooling. Stücher and others who followed suit were fined, and some even lost child custody. He founded a private school, the Philadelphia-Schule in Siegen. The discussion in politics about this school were very rough.
In a legal case commenced in 2003 at the European Court of Human Rights, a homeschooling parent couple argued on behalf of their children that Germany's compulsory school attendance endangered their children's religious upbringing, promoted teaching inconsistent with their Christian faith–especially the German State's mandates relating to sex education in the schools—and contravened the declaration in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union that "the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure education and teaching is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions".
In September 2006, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the German ban on homeschooling, stating "parents may not refuse... on the basis of their convictions", and adding that the right to education "calls for regulation by the State". The European Court took the position that the plaintiffs were the children, not their parents, and declared "children are unable to foresee the consequences of their parents' decision for home education because of their young age.... Schools represent society, and it is in the children's interest to become part of that society. The parents' right to educate does not go as far as to deprive their children of that experience."
The European Court endorsed a "carefully reasoned" decision of the German court concerning "the general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions and the importance of integrating minorities into society."
In January 2010, a United States immigration judge granted asylum to a German homeschooling family Romeike, apparently based on this ban on homeschooling. In April 2013, a decision by a U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals court overruled this and denied the petition for asylum, on the grounds that Germany's law applies to every resident, and does not single out any specific religious group for persecution. A petition of March 2013 for granting full and permanent legal status to the family received a White House reply in August 2013 without comment on the legal case. In March 2014, the Supreme Court declined to hear the family's appeal, but the Department of Homeland Security granted the family indefinite deferred action status, allowing them to remain in the United States. In February 2015, a bill was introduced that would allow up to 500 grants of asylum per fiscal year to families fleeing home school persecution.
The Twelve Tribes is one religious group that insists on home schooling and has been in conflict with authorities. On September 5, 2013, German police raided two communities and removed 40 children to protect them from supposed continued abuse. An investigative TV report had documented systematic child abuse in a 100-strong community in Bavaria, including "persistent beatings for the most trivial offences". A few days later, German media reported about the disappearance of about ten school-aged children from the small town of Dolchau. Probably they had been brought to a farm belonging to the 12 Tribes in the Czech Republic to elude intervention by the authorities who would ensure their public schooling. In 2002 there were several police raids against the Twelve Tribes, which do not want to send their children to school. The children were taken away from the sect, which was legitimated in 2018 by the European Court of Human Rights. Also, the case of the family Wunderlich were denied.
There is no general exemption for religious or pedagogical reasons; exemptions are allowed for severe illness, children of diplomats, and rarely for working children such as actors. The last petition in the Bundestag to release the punishment of adults who practice homeschooling was denied.
Greece
Compulsory education for children from 6 to 15 years old, with 6 years of primary school and 3 years of secondary school education.Hungary
Compulsory education for children from 6 to 16 years.Iceland
Homeschooling is legal only if home teacher has a teaching degree.Republic of Ireland
From 2004 to 2006, 225 children had been officially registered with the Republic of Ireland's National Education Welfare Board, which estimated there may be as many as 1500–2000 more unregistered homeschoolers. The right to a home education is guaranteed by the Constitution of Ireland.Italy
In Italy, homeschooling is legal by the Constitution: parents or their appointed agents must however prove having a technical and economical capability to teach their children. Homeschooled children are required to pass annual exams if and when the child wants to enter the state school system. Mandatory schooling ends when coming of age with the 18th birthday, although a pupil over 16 years of age, with the parents' agreement, may opt for workplace instruction. There is no compulsory central registration for homeschoolers in Italy and thus no official, nor democratically elected, homeschooling representatives and advocates.Netherlands
In the Netherlands, homeschooling is not a recognized form of education and every child is subject to compulsory education from his/her fifth birthday, with exemptions:- the child is physically and/or mentally unfit for school education,
- the parents have reservations about the religious and/or philosophical direction of education in all schools with appropriate education at a reasonable distance from the home,
- the child is enrolled in and regularly visits a foreign school
See also special school.
Norway
Homeschooling is legal. The municipality is responsible for checking that the homeschooling's curriculum is "equal to" public schooling, but the wording of the law is vague and does not prescribe how this is supposed to be done. Hence, every municipality does things differently: some municipalities assist the parents by providing funding for educational materials, while other municipalities make it a child protection issue.Poland
Homeschooling is only allowed on highly regulated terms. Every child must be enrolled in a school. The school principal may, but is not obliged to, allow of homeschooling a particular child. Homeschooled children are required to pass annual exams covering material in school curriculum, and failure on an exam automatically terminates the homeschooling permit.Portugal
Homeschooling is legal. However, not many people choose the option of home-schooling, mostly because of not knowing about the choice.Russia
There are at least two forms of education that look like homeschooling. With "family education", homeschoolers are attached to a state-licensed school where they are allowed to participate in laboratory work and extracurricular activities, may use teacher support and the school library and do tests and exams in every subject. The local authorities are obliged to pay the parents some money, but no specific requirements exist. The formal, usually annual, interim examinations, even the online ones, are mandatory at least in the 4th and 9th grades. Many children finish a 9-year curriculum in less than 3 years. There is also a hybrid form of education, when the child can attend the classes of his choice and the rest of the subjects study on his own.Slovenia
Home education is legal in Slovenia since 1996. The law regarding home education has not been changed since then. It is almost identical to Montenegrin model of home education. According to Slovenian Ministry of Education it was based on Danish model of home education.The compulsory school-age starts at 6 and lasts for 9 years. The child being home educated is required to enroll into a local school and pass annual exam in certain subjects. If the child does not pass all the exams in two attempts, it is ordered to continue the education with regular school attendance. Every year the parents have to notify the school before starting new school year that they will be home educating their child.
There are no special requirements for parents wanting to home educate their children. Parents are not eligible for any kind of state help nor are schools required to provide any kind of assistance. The schools are free to choose whether they will allow special arrangements with home educated children. The Ministry of Education and schools are not required to provide any form of help to parents of home educated children.
In the school year 2010/2011 97 children have been home educated.
As of July 2011 there are no organised home education groups in Slovenia.
Slovakia
Homeschooling is legal in Slovakia. However, a child's tutor is required to have a degree with a major in primary school education, and homeschooling is restricted only to the first four years of primary education.Spain
In Spain homeschooling is in somewhat of a legal vacuum. On the one hand in Article 27 the Spanish Constitution talks of compulsive education, the freedom of teaching and the right of parents to choose their children's education in accordance with their own personal, moral and religious convictions. On the other hand, Spanish education law speaks of compulsive school attendance for all children between the ages of 6 and 16..In 2010 a family went in front of the Spanish Constitutional Court to argue that the Spanish education laws are not in accordance with the parental rights granted by the Constitution and are therefore unlawful. The decision made by the Constitutional Court made it clear that current education laws were in fact lawful interpretations of the Constitution with the result that since 2010 effectively school attendance is considered mandatory in Spain for all children from 6 to 16. However, the Constitutional Court also made it clear that the Constitution indeed only talks of compulsive education and that a change in the law to make homeschooling a legal alternative to regular school attendance would be a possible and lawful option for the future.
In 2009 the regional government of Catalonia amended its education law so that now according to article 55 "education without attendance to school" is a viable option. However the regulation of that right hasn't yet been developed. As a regional law it can't contradict the education law passed by the national parliament. Hence the newly amended Catalan law can only refer to pupils who have special needs or are for some other reason unable attend school regularly in order that they may have their educational rights met..
Sweden
In Sweden, children are obligated to attend school from the age of 6. In 2010 Sweden passed a law that added further restrictions on homeschooling to an earlier law which was passed in 1985. Homeschooling is only allowed for certain specific reasons such as for children of parents working temporarily in the country. Homeschooling will not be approved based on religious beliefs or philosophical reasons, nor is there an automatic approval if the parent has had teacher training. Recent court cases have supported these restrictions on parents.The Domenic Johansson custody case has been cited as an example of the difficulty in receiving permissions.
In 2009 a child called Domenic Johansson was taken from his parents while they were on board Turkish Air Flight 990, waiting for departure to the mother's home country India. Domenic was taken into custody by the Swedish police due to reports of the child being homeschooled. His parents opted to homeschool Domenic since they would be leaving the country later that year and since he had only turned seven a few months prior to the move. The Johanssons reported that the Minister of Education had approved the homeschooling, but that local officials had refused to supply them with educational materials and fined them for every day Domenic did not attend the local school. In June 2012 the Gotland district court ruled that the Johanssons should retain their parental rights over Domenic, which was later overturned by the appeals court.
Switzerland
Homeschooling is legal in Switzerland. Requirements vary from Canton to Canton. In the Cantons Luzern, Zug, Schwyz and Zürich the teachers must have a Lehrdiplom, in Cantons Bern and Aargau this is not required. In Canton Obwalden homeschooling has to be allowed by the administration. The Bundesgericht decided in 2019 that there is no right for homeschooling based on the swiss law. In 2011 approximately 200 – 500 families currently homeschool, in 2019 a study found 2100 children where learning in homeschools.Ukraine
The Home School Legal Defense Association claims that homeschooling is legal and expressly allowed for in Ukraine's Education Law, but local authorities do not always agree.Homeschooling is mentioned swiftly in The Law of Ukraine on Education, article 59:
Parents and persons who substitute them shall be obliged to assist children to get education in educational institutions or provide them with full-value home education in accordance with the requirements to its content, level and scope.
United Kingdom
Homeschooling is legal in the United Kingdom. Parents are legally required to ensure that their children receive "efficient full-time education suitable to age, ability and aptitude, and... to any special educational needs may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise." Parents are not required to inform local authorities that they are homeschooling.A report commissioned by the UK government in 2009 found that councils were aware of approximately 20,000 children being homeschooled, but that the true number could be in excess of 80,000. A study by the BBC in 2018 found that councils were aware of 48,000 children who were being homeschooled in 2016/7.
Oceania
Australia
The Australian census does not track homeschooling families, but Philip Strange of Home Education Association, Inc. very roughly estimates 15,000. In 1995, Roland Meighan of Nottingham School of Education estimated some 20,000 families homeschooling in Australia.Homeschooling since 2006 requires government registration, with different requirements from state to state. Some home educators prefer to be regulated, but others question whether the government has any legitimate authority to oversee the choices parents make to raise and educate their children. Curricular help is offered by the Australian Government. In 2006, Victoria passed legislation requiring the registration of children up to the age of 16 and increasing the school leaving age to 16 from the previous 15, undertaking home education. The Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority is the registering body.
Reasons for people choose to homeschool are sometimes lifestyle choices, some people choose to home educate so that they can travel and spend better time with their kids. Some children learn differently to the general crowd and can get bored or can struggle at school, where the teachers are unable to cater for the individuality of each child.
Many organizations exist to help parents and teachers with home education. The HEA is one support organization, having grown through local support networks. The HEA does not produce educational material but offers support to families choosing to homeschool.
New Zealand
As of July 2011 there were 6,517 homeschooled pupils registered with the Ministry of Education. It is an increase of 23.6% since 1998.As at 1 July 2013, there were 5,521 home schooled students recorded in the Ministry of Education's Homeschooling database. These students belong to 2,789 families and represent 0.7% of total school enrolments as at 1 July 2013. Out of the 5,521 homeschoolers 65% were the aged 12 or under, 66% had been home-schooled for less than 5 years, and only 4% had been home-schooled for 10 years or more.