This is a first-hand account of a head teacher's quest to bridge the digital divide in a school catchment of considerable disadvantage in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It describes the Microsoft Anytime Anywhere Learning project (AAL), which the school helped to pioneer in the UK. From this, the paper aims to provide some fresh perspectives on…

Thousands of children are educated at home by their parents. This book is an overview of the phenomenon of elective home education in the United Kingdom. It examines the history of the practice and reveals why more and more parents are choosing not to send their children to school. Simon Webb, himself a home educator, explores in detail the…

This paper suggests that rather than criminalising or pathologising truancy as a "deviant" behaviour in need of either treatment or punishment, truancy should be considered as a rational enactment of dissatisfaction with State educational provision. It should be of little surprise that attempts to "solve" the truancy…

With many thousands of home-educated children across the UK, the subject of support for the home-education community is widely debated. A report conducted by the NFER for the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation is based on detailed interviews with 20 home educators and presents findings on support needs. This Research Briefing illustrates some key findings…