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Making Sure Home School Students Get The Best Education

21 December 2016

Proposed changes to home schooling will make sure all Victorian students get the best education and opportunities in life – whether they are learning at home or in the classroom.

Around 4,500 Victorian students are home schooled and the proposed new regulations will make sure they get the education they need, while still giving home school families freedom in how they deliver their child’s education.

Families will need to submit a one-off learning plan to the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) when they start home-schooling, under the proposed changes.

The learning plan will have to show how the family will deliver on eight learning areas: the arts, English, health and physical education (including sport), languages other than English, mathematics, science, technology, and studies of society and environment.

Families will still be required to notify the VRQA that they are continuing their registration for home schooling each year.

The VRQA will also have a new power to review a family’s arrangements for home schooling to make sure they are providing a quality education to their children.

Public consultation on the proposed new regulations is now open and has been extended to 60 days to give the community greater opportunity to have its say.

The review of home schooling is part of a wider review of regulations in the Education and Training Reform Act 2007, which requires that regulations be reviewed every ten years.

More information is available at: www.education.vic.gov.au/legislationExternal Link .

Quotes attributable to Minister for Education James Merlino

“These changes are about ensuring that the 4,500 Victorian students who are home schooled get the same education and opportunities in life as children who learn in the classroom.”

“It’s important we strike the right balance between making sure home schooled students get the best education and giving home school families the freedom to deliver their child’s education.”

“We have doubled the length of time for community consultation to make sure everyone has the opportunity to have their say.”

Reviewed 19 August 2020

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