Logan homeschoolers are outraged over the state government’s plans to overhaul the system and control their teachings.
Newly proposed laws would require homeschooling parents follow the Australian national curriculum were recently introduced.
It follows the revelation that Queensland’s homeschooling numbers have almost tripled since Covid.
“With the increase in the number of families choosing home schooling, we need to make sure the interests of the student are the priority, especially in regard to their well-being and safety and this is what this legislation will do,” Queensland’s education minister Di Farmer said.
But Logan mother and homeschooling advocate Patricia Fitzgerald said safety concerns were what led to her pulling her children from the public system 10 years ago.
“We had issues in the system, from safety to curriculum, so pretty much across the board,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
“There was bullying inside the school, from the principal all the way to students.
“The amendments the government is proposing would have no effect on the safety of children.”
Ms Fitzgerald argued home education could offer higher quality education than the Australian curriculum.
She said the quality of education at schools was “too restricting”.
“With homeschooling at the moment, we can access anything we want, and we just have to prove that we’re providing a high-quality education,” she said.
“When my son was in school, he was testing two years ahead of his peers, and we were told by the deputy principal that he will have to wait for two years for the other kids to catch up.
“That was their idea of educating my child.”
Instead, Ms Fitzgerald uses the US curriculum to teach her children.
“We found that better quality – more in-depth,” she said.
“Using that, my son managed to get his certificate four at 15 and accepted to university at 15 – there’s no way he would have been able to do that if he was in school.”
She said only 20 per cent of homeschoolers had listed the Australian curriculum as a learning resource.
“That doesn’t mean they’re using it, but it is just listed as an optional reference,” Ms Fitzgerald said.
She estimated the number of families “actually using” the curriculum was less than 20 per cent.
“We left the school because it wasn’t good enough, so why would we want that curriculum?” she said.
The government’s bill would increase home education regulation across the board, including streamlining the registration process, extending eligibility, and increasing parent reporting requirements and objectives.
Ms Fitzgerald and her children have prepared submissions for the parliamentary committee overseeing the bill.
The Queensland education department said there were 2007 registrations for home education between Logan, Gold Coast, and Scenic Rim.
