Researching for change in the Elective Home Education arena

This paper considers the experience of being a researcher in the British ‘arena’ of Elective Home Education (EHE). Due to recent moves by the UK government to attempt to introduce regulation of EHE, the subject of EHE has reached new levels of prominence. The ‘arena’ of EHE has therefore fundamentally changed and in some senses is now a strange and strangled part of the mainstream. The EHE arena is comprised of home educators, their children and families, the government, policy makers, academic researchers, social services, the media and the wider public, as well as globally those interested or engaged with EHE. It is a complex picture of actors. Exacerbating this complexity is the extreme nature of difference that EHE presents to the majority of people who are used to understanding education as schooling. This difference is comprised of many features such as differences in lifestyle, outlook, thinking modes, personal philosophies, family relationships, social behaviour, pedagogic styles and attitudes to governance. Add to this, high levels of emotions resulting from poor consultation, histories of misunderstanding and flagrant prejudice resulting from ignorance and bias and the pressures of society, families, daily life and government interventions. Add also the marginalised nature of EHE within the educational research community. Subsequent to this interesting but potent mix of factors emerging in recent years and the fast pace of change in this arena, researching EHE is a matter for special elucidation in terms of the how, why and wherefore of research. This is especially true if a researcher seeks to create change. This paper attempts to highlight challenges, achievements, obstacles and advantages of researching EHE in the current climate.