Now you see it … now you don’t … Yet!!!

On Thursday, 22 January 2025, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) played a game of peekaboo on their X account. For a few minutes readers were treated to a DBE post about registering for home education. Homeschoolers were just becoming outraged when the post became “Nothing to see her - yet.”.

Why did the post disappear? We can only surmise because it contained several errors.

Immunization certificates required

Home schoolers were told that alongside other documents they must provide “previous school reports or immunizations records”. This implies that if learners do not have reports from their previous schools, they must provide immunization records. The learners who would not have previous school reports are going to have received their education where? Surely, at home. The Department is then asking that children who were never in a school setting must provide immunization certificates so they can be registered for home education where they will not be in classes with other children. The rationale for requiring immunization in schools, and being used to convince those opposed to or skeptical of immunization, is “your child will be in a class with other children”. Why would you be asking children who are not in school for an immunization certificate as a condition of registering for home education?

No doubt this major logical flaw and the attempt to impose a requirement that appears nowhere in the BELA Act was the reason the post disappeared.

Education the way the DBE understands it.

The post also says the parent must provide “a structured learning programme and a timetable”. Neither of these requirements appear in the BELA Act. Many home schoolers follow a self-directed learning approach, that encourages interest-based and holistic learning, were a child will exhaustively study a particular subject they are interested in. This differs fundamentally from the sit-at-the-desk structured school programmes that the DBE are familiar with.

A timetable is used at a school to ensure the school runs smoothly it can be used by some homeschoolers who find it useful but in general it does not reflect how homeschoolers learn.

No communication

The DBE must be praised for trying to communicate at all. When the BELA Bill came into effect on Christmas Day 2024, the DBE was silent, but then we know they and many provincial education departments do not work over the year-end holidays. That is left up to the NGOs in the sector who then must inform the homeschooling public of developments.

Throughout 2024, the DBE has been largely, if not totally, silent, failing to communicate with homeschoolers, leaving them unsure if end-of-phase assessments needed to be done or if those who had completed the phase must notify the provincial education departments that they are continuing homeschooling.

Administrative Chaos.

The DBE and many provincial education departments can be excused for not communicating because they don’t exactly have good news to communicate. The Pestalozzi Trust, SA’s largest homeschooling organization, has stated that nationwide 80% of the thousands of applications for registration that have flooded into education departments throughout 2024 have not been processed. The majority of those were sent in before 23 January 2024, the date the Act required all home schoolers to register. How could the DBE expect end-of-phase assessments or notifications to be sent in when after a year only 20% of homeschoolers who applied have certificates and registration numbers to attach to those forms?

The DBE clearly doesn’t understand homeschooling, yet, and needs to be working with homeschoolers and homeschooling organisations if it is going to communicate effectively with us.