Transitioning from home education to employment

The recent ‘Strengthening Home Education’ (2021) report commissioned by the DfE and the House of Commons Education Committee highlighted the need for research that explores the social outcomes of home education. In particular, employment is an area of society that we know very little about when it comes to the home education community.

Members of this community might be familiar with questions received by those who don’t home educate, regarding whether this mode of education adequately prepares young people for participating in society, with the notable example of employment. It is often the case that due to this community and their voices being underrepresented that the media, and society, comes to be proliferated by misconceptions, assumptions and stereotypes on the role of home education preparing (or not) children for employment.

The reality of finding employment

A doctoral research study led by Lancaster University’s Rachael Barrow aims to gain insights into the reality of how employment is gained and experienced by previously home-educated adults. The research included interviews with a sample consisting of 30 adults aged between 18 and 65 who had been home educated for at least one year and possessed experience in paid and unpaid employment.

One of the initial insights gained from the data was how all but four of the adults had been in continuous employment since starting their first job. The four who where not in current employment cited reasons outside of their education for their unemployed status such as caring responsibilities and health related issues. For the majority, they felt that home education had given them an “advantage in the working world” (Hal) through home education having enabled them to develop a unique set of experiences that sets them apart from their schooled peers. Several of the participants expressed how being immersed in the adult world since an early age allowed them to develop relationships with a range of different adults of varying ages and backgrounds.   [B]eing able to meet an outdoor instructor in an informal way massively influenced me to pursue a career in outdoor education. I wouldn’t be in this line of work today if it wasn’t for those kinds of experiences - Naomi

What this demonstrates is how most of the adults interviewed felt that their home education could not be separated from their chosen career paths. They felt strongly that their home education had shaped them, and their social outcomes, in a way that the two could not be separated; and even if they could be, they wouldn’t want them to be.

Developing internal value systems

What has also strongly come to light is how the employment route selected by previously home-educated adults is strongly influenced not only by their prior experiences and interests during home education but also by the internal value systems that they felt they had developed by being outside of the conventional system. This meant that there had been a pattern identified in both the types of employment they went into as well as the ones they refused to go into due to prior bad experiences or obvious clashing with their value systems. On the one hand, the adults mostly gravitated towards entrepreneurial or self-employed types of work (i.e., consultants, business owners, etc), jobs that utilised their love for research and knowledge (i.e., academia, research positions, etc.) or jobs that enabled them to make a difference to peoples’ lives (i.e., district judges, outdoor education, charity work, etc.). 

For example, Lina expressed how she has “always been interested to know more and that’s why it’s nice to do an academic job to a degree because then that’s always available. There’s always more to learn or know”. On the other hand, the adults commonly discussed having had bad experiences in sales positions (i.e., cold calling, selling services over the phone, call centres, etc.), anything corporate-based (i.e., banking, office jobs, managers in PR and communications, etc.), and being a civil servant (i.e., working in job centres, etc.). 

For example, Tom expressed how he could never be a civil servant in a job centre because “they completely lack values and possess no morality whatsoever. They are playing God with peoples’ lives and don’t care for the consequences. I would never be happy doing a job like that, it’s just awful”.

Conclusion

While this has been just a snapshot of some of the insights gleaned from this research, it has been insightful to discover how previously home-educated adults feel about the connections between their education and employment. It has been a central part of the research to get the voices of this community heard in a way that is true to their realities, which in turn begins to help break down the assumptions and stereotypes that proliferate in the narratives that commonly surround these adults.

Points for reflection

I hope that if there is anything to be taken away from this article is that the futures of those home educated are often brighter and more fulfilling than is sometimes given credit for.

I would encourage any families stumbling across this article who are looking to home educate to speak to those who have gone through the process before because there is so many insights to be gleaned from doing so.