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The Gateless Gate of Home Education Discovery

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The Gateless Gate of Home Education Discovery View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OpenGrey Repository THE GATELESS GATE OF HOME EDUCATION DISCOVERY: WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SELF OF ADULTS UPON DISCOVERY OF THE POSSIBILITY AND POSSIBILITIES OF AN EDUCATIONAL ALTERNATIVE? By HELEN E. LEES A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Education College of Social Sciences The University of Birmingham October 2010 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the moment of discovery of educational alternatives and in particular contemporary discovery of elective home education by parents and other adults in England. The discussion highlights an empirical and theoretical context for this discovery. Questions involve whether there is a moment of ontological conversion in the self of people discovering another way of educating from mainstream authoritarian schooling. The research data presented suggests that a moment of ‘gestalt switch’ conversion exists between what can be called different ‘worlds’ of education, following Thomas S. Kuhn’s framework of scientific discovery. By finding the existence of such a moment, the data indicates that education hegemonically conflated with mainstream authoritarian schooling is illegitimate: education is a paradigmatic field wherein all differing paradigms of educational theory and practice have equal legitimacy, irrespective of resources and participants. The moment of discovery investigated is characterised by surprising elements. Discovery of an alternative way of educating children seems to have a strong positive impact on both the adults and the children involved. The study shows that parents want information on various educational modalities to be widely available and provided by the government in the process of choosing education for their children. DEDICATION To the Other, everywhere. Beautiful, powerful Other. “No person who has learned that to exist as the individual is the most terrifying thing of all will be afraid of saying it is the greatest” (Kierkegaard 1985, pg 102) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to deeply thank Professor Clive Harber, who was the ‘original’ inspiration: his writing made me want to write academically. As my main supervisor, Clive has been a lighthouse in case of rocks and a friendly and professional support. He also acted as an invaluable intellectual validation throughout the thesis because he reminded me again and again that thinking my thoughts was worthwhile. Thanks go to him for all of this and more but especially for believing in me from the first to the last and making the journey of researching and writing this PhD possible. Dr Nick Peim as secondary supervisor of my PhD project has been a good friend. He is also a philosophical ally and role model in many respects; something I had not expected I would be so lucky to find. Nick supported me throughout the PhD period on a number of writing projects, from days when I would sit in his office for ages just wanting to talk ‘philosophy’, to now when there is some ‘context’ and I am more aware of how generous and patient he was. I would like to thank the School of Education at University of Birmingham for their significant financial support and various support of other kinds, all of which have made this project possible and intensely enjoyable. In particular I would like to thank Professor Marilyn Martin-Jones and Professor David Hartley, Helen Joinson and Dr Michele Schweisfurth for their belief in me and their encouragement. Strong thanks go to the amazing research participants in this study: democratic educationists of varying kinds, levels, interests and motivations and all the fantastic people who home educate, as well as those people approached ‘on the street’ who restored my faith in human nature. On a personal level, I have found that alternative education in practice and as community is an amazing world to enter into. Spending time with members of the EHE ‘world’ especially, has I think, had a profound affect for the better on me as a human being: slowly to be fully realised. Professor Gert Biesta of Stirling University has been inspiring, supportive and serene. Remembering, now, my grandmother Rhoda Olive Eldridge who is gone. Thanks to my wonderful parents, Ann and Alex Lees, because they caused me to think. Lastly, and of course, I would like to thank Guglielmo for his selfless love. He has made a long apprenticeship fun, ‘moaned’ the lawn, fed me oily fish, paid the big bills and tried to keep me on a steady footing when I’d rather be wild. A help-mate. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 9 Untangling the weeds of terms ........................................................................................ 19 What is meant herein by the Self? ................................................................................... 22 What this thesis is and what it is not ............................................................................... 24 The Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 26 A note regarding the nature of the references ................................................................. 27 The structure of the thesis ............................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 2: CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTS FOR THE DATA ON DISCOVERY OF ELECTIVE HOME EDUCATION IN ENGLAND ........................................................................................... 30 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 30 Why research discovery of EHE within England: the rationale ...................................... 31 Information for discovery: a context ................................................................................... 32 A legal choice: history and development ........................................................................ 32 The Badman Review of 2009 .......................................................................................... 35 The media’s relationship to EHE .................................................................................... 37 Academic work to inform discovery? ............................................................................. 40 How many people in England have already discovered EHE? ....................................... 42 Schools in England and EHE discovery .......................................................................... 45 1 Negative, excuse and positive discovery ......................................................................... 46 Government information about EHE: the status quo ...................................................... 52 Confusion and misinformation ........................................................................................ 54 Inaccurate discourse ........................................................................................................ 57 Official ‘silence’ about educational alternatives to schooling ........................................ 58 EHE as educational provision doesn’t officially exist ..................................................... 59 EHE information for discovery: a public service? .......................................................... 60 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 61 CHAPTER 3: THE ROLE OF DISCOVERY IN RELATION TO EHE (AND DSM), IN EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL CONTEXT ................................................................................................. 64 Introduction: a new attitude to education? .......................................................................... 64 Educational DIY? ............................................................................................................ 65 A special role for the internet in discovery of EHE? ...................................................... 67 A human right to discover EHE (and DSM)? ................................................................. 71 Ignorance about EHE as inhumanity and dehumanisation .............................................. 75 Where is the training that creates difference? ................................................................. 77 Discovery as school exit .................................................................................................. 79 Undue influence?: education as schooling ...................................................................... 81 What is ‘Education as Schooling’? ................................................................................
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