“At school it’s like robots, you all do the same thing at the same time, all the time. But at home it’s not like that”: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of the lived experiences of children and young people who are home educated
Whilst often seen as a ‘different’ or ‘alternative’ approach to education (Bowers, 2017; Fraser, 1999), home education is a legal and legitimate approach to education, with education, and not school, which is a legal requirement in the UK (Education Act, 1996). Despite this, there is a little research which focuses on home education (Bowers, 2017; Jones, 2013; Webb, 2011), with even less which focuses on the lived experiences of children and young people (CYP) who have experienced both school and home education (Broadhurst, 1999; Jennens, 2011). This research aimed to explore the lived experiences of CYP who have experienced education in school and at home, and the transition between the two. Four semi-structured interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to identify both shared and unique experiences. This small-scale study identified seven subordinate themes related to CYP experiences in both school and home education settings. Participants reflected on experiences in both settings and the transition between the two. Findings are discussed further to explore professional implications of supporting CYP in both settings.