Thousands of UK parents are taking on primary responsibility for their children's education, rather than delegating that responsibility to a school...
Title:
School’s Out…Forever!
Tag line:
In 2010, is conventional schooling really the best way to educate our children? Can ‘home-schooling’ save Broken Britain?
Short description:
This 3 x 1hr observational documentary series follows three sets of UK parents, embarking on ‘homeschooling’ their children for the first time. Who will learn most from the experience – the kids or the parents?
Synopsis:
In 2010, a growing number of UK parents are questioning whether ‘old school’ teaching methods can deliver the right education or, indeed, a safe environment for their kids – and turning to ‘home schooling’ as an alternative.
Contrary to popular belief it is entirely legal for anyone to educate their children at home: the majority of home educators are NOT qualified teachers.
‘School’s Out…Forever!’ follows the journeys of three sets of parents from different UK locations and varying socio-economic circumstance who have decided to take primary responsibility for the education of their children. (Full filming access secured.)
Played out chronologically over a single school year, we follow the stories of the three families, interspersed with ‘talking head’ contributions from teachers, educationalists, homeschooling veterans (including celebrity ‘homeschoolers’, such as Jamelia) and children themselves. In addition, a voiceover will be used to help tie the onscreen footage together and to ease the introduction of some of the wider issues raised by the first-hand experiences of the three families, e.g.
Episode 1) School isn’t learning
- Is conventional teaching more about ‘crowd control’ than education and development of each individual child?
- Why home-school at all? What is motivating the parents to home-school?
- What are the legalities surrounding home-schooling?
Episode 2) Tough lessons
- What are the financial, practical and emotional barriers?
- What support is available to parents wishing to home-school?
- What role can modern technology and the Internet play in providing a 21st century model for schooling? In the age of flexible working (in the world of commerce) and eLearning (in Higher education), why has the traditional model of schooling remained relatively unchanged?
Episode 3) End of term report
- Has the homeschooling experience been everything the parents thought it would be? How has it affected their wider lives?
- What about the kids? How have they found the experience? Should we be talking about school/life balance in the same way we discuss ‘work/life’ balance?
- How can a homeschooled child’s development be assessed?
- Can homeschooling mend a society scared of its own children?
This 3-part TV series would lend itself well to a cross-platform project, specifically the creation of a sister web portal offering: further advice and pointers to those interested in learning more about homeschooling; simple games and learning exercises for parents and children to do together; and a social networking group and discussion board where registered users can discuss the issues raised by the series and swap their own experiences.
This concept is flexible enough to be tailored to meet the requirements any of the mainstream UK TV channels, however, in the first instance, the target broadcaster would be Channel 4.
To provide a little more background on the subject of home-schooling in the UK, here is a short video from the UK not-for-profit organisation ‘Education Otherwise’...
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