Homeschooling numbers are surging. Why? And should we be concerned?

That translates roughly to an increase of 108 per cent since 2019, when 21,966 students were registered as learning from home.

While some might consider this to be cause for alarm, homeschool researcher and senior lecturer in education at Queensland University of Technology Dr Rebecca English says it’s only a problem if we perceive it to be one.

“There is zero evidence anywhere in the world in any of the research literature that homeschool students are disadvantaged by being homeschooled,” the former teacher says.

“In fact, there’s been large scale reviewed studies which show that homeschoolers actually outperformed their mainstream school peers in terms of academics, in terms of social experiences, in terms of satisfaction with education and civic engagement.”

Of more concern, English contends, is that nationally one-in-five registered homeschooler parents are teachers.

“Twenty per cent of respondents to the Queensland survey in 2023 were teachers, and there is an American study that suggest figures are the same over there.

“That’s quite a significant chunk.”

English believes the issue is so concerning, she’s co-authoring a book about it.

“We collected data with 12 or 13 teachers and we talked to them about their decision to homeschool, and they all talked about how easy it was for them to make that transition, because reporting was really easy, they understand edu-speak in dealing with the department, so they don’t have any trouble with getting registered,” she says.

Of the teachers included in the book, to make ends meet a few of them had started tutoring businesses or micro schools, others became stay-at-home mums (and said they would rather pack shelves than go back to the classroom), one or two of them were still teaching but only part-time, and one of them was doing supply teaching, English says.

“We’ve called the book Canaries in the Coal Mine, because we really think that if teachers are choosing to homeschool, what does that say about their faith in education more broadly?”

“What parents tell me all the time is they what they like about homeschooling is the flexibility, the capacity to meet the child where they are, the fact that it's the child that is at the centre of the learning not a curriculum, not some sort of data machine that schools are trying to collect,” Dr English says.

Last week prominent homeschool provider, Euka Future Learning, released an audit of its new families this year, which shows 23.17 per cent cited ‘bullying’ as their primary reason for turning away from the mainstream system, while 18.29 per cent said they object philosophically to what’s being taught in schools.

Euka CEO Brett Campbell says what he’s heard from parents who join Euka is that they’re simply dismayed with what their children were being taught in the maintream system.

“Most of these families wanted their kids to go to a traditional school, but feel quite strongly they’re learning anything but traditional values,” Campbell says.

“We can’t protect our children from everything for the rest of their lives, but homeschooling allows parents to regain control of what they’re being taught, or not exposed to.

“This very much follows the findings of The Institute of Public Affairs that even toddlers are being indoctrinated in woke concepts.”

English says in her experience the reasons parents choose to homeschool their kids is more anchored in brain functioning associated with a range of developmental conditions and experiences.

“In Queensland at the beginning of last year we collected a whole bunch of data from homeschoolers who agreed to do the survey, and for them neurodiversity and cognitive issues around that in schools was the primary driver toward homeschooling,” she explains.

“Bullying is definitely a part of it. I did a study about bullying and the stories were really awful, but you can’t untangle that bullying really from other issues in school, particularly around how neurodivergent kids are experiencing mainstream schools.”

The researcher separates homeschool parents into what she calls the ‘accidentals’ and the ‘deliberates’.

“The deliberates are your philosophical hardcore Christians, hardcore Libertarians, they were never going to choose school because they don’t like government intrusion for different reasons,” English explains.

“The bulk of the growth in Queensland and in other states has been in what I call the accidentals – they never set out to homeschool, they didn’t really want to, they may not even have been particularly positively disposed toward homeschooling, but at least 85 per cent of the community would be what I call accidentals – it’s an accidental choice, they didn’t intend to make it but here they are.”

English believes governments should be looking at homeschooling more as a contributor to solving some of the issues they are facing.

“School refusal’s a great example,” she says.

“The research shows that school refusal happens more in state mainstream school settings than it does in privates, not by a lot but a little bit, so school refusers are winding up in homeschooling.”

“Most of our families wanted their kids to go to a traditional school, but feel quite strongly they’re learning anything but traditional values. This very much follows the findings of The Institute of Public Affairs that even toddlers are being indoctrinated in woke concepts. People are saying, enough is enough,” Euka Future Learning CEO Brett Campbell says.

Due to funding models being based around “bums on seats”, governments, she says, are having to find other money to manage and administer their homeschool sectors. However, she says given the issue is nationwide, it probably needs to be addressed at the federal level.

“What seems to work really effectively in states like South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT are governments there listen to homeschoolers and understand that it is often connected deeply with school refusal, it’s deeply connected with bullying, it’s deeply connected with neurodiversity, like all of those three things sort of travel together.

“But really, they also have part-time school, so that if you wish to go back you can make a soft transition back. That seems to really work as well.”

Campbell says what is important is that parents have a choice as to how their children are educated.

“If they’re comfortable with the curriculums in the mainstream system, that’s totally fine; homeschooling is merely another option,” he says.

At present, homeschoolers represent about 1 per cent of all Australian students; however, enrolment trends are mirroring that of the United States in recent years, where 3.7 million children are homeschooled, representing about 11 per cent of the student population.

English says she thinks it will very likely continue to grow.

“I think what parents are really looking for, and what parents tell me all the time, is what they like about homeschooling is the flexibility, the capacity to meet the child where they are, the fact that it’s the child that is at the centre of the learning not a curriculum, not some sort of data machine that schools are trying to collect.

“None of this stuff worked for their child, so being able to meet them where they are and have that child take the time to learn in a way that suits them, is what makes it really effective.”