Homeschooling has become increasingly popular in Australia, with more than 40,000 children now learning at home – a number that's doubled in the last six years. For many parents it's an intentional choice based on ideological or religious reasons. But for others it can be a last resort.
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00:00Fourteen-year-old Ollie Lewis left his local high school after being bullied. He now studies
00:07at home through an online private college.
00:10I really enjoy learning from home. It gives me a lot of flexibility.
00:15What a beautiful day, hey?
00:17Indeed.
00:18Susie Lewis says her son is a different person.
00:20It's gorgeous. We should go for a walk.
00:23We should.
00:24We are much closer now. We have little breaks and we talk a lot more. He's a lot more open
00:28because there's no anxieties present anymore.
00:32Ollie is one of an increasing number of Australian students leaving the classroom behind. Exact
00:38numbers are difficult to pinpoint, but figures compiled by advocates from state and territory
00:43regulators suggest more than 43,000 students are registered as homeschoolers nationally,
00:50more than double the number in 2018.
00:53QUT's Dr Rebecca English says homeschooling was once typically a deliberate choice for
00:58religious or ideological reasons, but she says today's home students are mostly leaving
01:04school because of bullying or neurodivergence.
01:07The biggest growth by far has been among what I call accidentals. They've usually tried
01:12a school, often more than one school, and then they find themselves with no other choice
01:17but to homeschool.
01:18The head of the peak body for Australian secondary school principals says there is a place for
01:23homeschooling, but it's concerning that so many students are finding their needs can't
01:29be met by schools.
01:31Our schools are increasingly expected to provide a highly personalised learning program for
01:38all of our children, and that's what we'd want to do. However, the training and resourcing,
01:42particularly in our public school sector, has not kept pace with that.
01:46Andy Myson says homeschool students may miss out on access to specialised facilities like
01:52science labs and workshops, and he's concerned that older students in particular lack social
01:57interaction.
01:59It's very important for students at that age to get the benefit of socialisation, learning
02:03how to interact with others.
02:05We want to make sure that the kids are not missing out on anything that the schools might
02:09be putting up for them. We've got our own version of it as well.
02:13Vicky Wong continued homeschooling after the pandemic because she found her children
02:18were thriving.
02:19Oh, there's a lego!
02:21We ask them every year, do you want to go to school? And they say no, we want to continue
02:26homeschooling, so here we are.
02:27We need to be mindful of the challenges for parents. It's also not an option that's available
02:32to everyone.