INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON HOME EDUCATION: Do We Still Need Schools?

International Perspectives of Home Education discusses home-based education in a wide variety of countries such as the UK, USA, Australia, Israel, Afghanistan, Norway, Germany and more. The volume was edited by Paula Rothermel, a UK academic in the field of home education. She is Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and Elected Associated Fellow of the British Psychological Society (ABPS). She also coordinates the International Network for Research into Home Education, a global community of scholars interested in home education research. Over the next several weeks, all 21 chapters will be reviewed in order. Links will be added as reviews are posted. Here follows a table of contents for the volume:

Part I: The Learning Process

1. Leslie Safran Barson, “Home Educating Parents: Martyrs or Pathmakers?,” pp. 21-29.
2. Glenda Jackson, “Reflections on Australian Home Education Research and Vygotskian Learning Theory,” pp. 30-43.
3. Noraisha Yusof, “Parental and Children’s Views on Mathematical Learning Within the Home Environment,” pp. 44-56.
4. Alan Thomas and Harriet Pattison, “The Informal Acquisition and Development of Literacy,” pp. 57-73.
5. Andrew McAvoy, “How Are New Technologies Impacting Elective Home Learners?” pp. 74-84.

Part II: Tensions and Criticisms

1. Christian W. Beck, “Home Education and Social Integration,” pp. 87-98.
2. Samantha Eddis, “A Case of Mistaken Identity: Perspectives of Home Educators and State Officials in England and Wales, and Florida, USA,” pp. 99-110.
3. Nicky Hardenbergh, “Validity of High Stakes Standardized test Requirements for Homeschoolers: A Psychometric Analysis,” pp. 111-135.
4. Christopher Lubienski and T. Jameson Brewer, “Does Home Education ‘Work’? Challenging the Assumptions behind the Home Education Movement,” pp. 136-147.

Part III: Political Conflict

1. Thomas Spiegler, “Home Education versus Compulsory Schooling in Germany: The Contribution of Robert K. Merton’s Typology of Adaptation to an Understanding of the Movement and the Debate About Its Legitimacy,” pp. 151-165.
2. Daniel Monk, “Home Education: A Human Right?,” pp. 166-178.
3. Joke Sperling, “Home Education and the European Convention on Human Rights,” pp. 179-188.
4. Paula Rothermel, “Home Education: A Desperately Dangerous Notion?,” pp. 189-207.

Part IV: Lifestyle and Choice

1. Ari Neuman and Aharon Aviram, “Homeschooling – The Choice and the Consequences,” pp. 211-222.
2. Ervin Fabián García López, “Reflections and Comparative Assessments on Home Education in Three Colombian Families,” pp. 223-233.

Part V: Models: War, Poverty and Necessity

1. Ulrike Hanemann, “Home-Based Schools: Increasing the Access of Education to Afghan Girls and Women,” pp. 237-253.
2. Sugata Mitra, “Minimally Invasive Education: Pedagogy for Development in a Connected World,” pp. 254-277.
3. Cheryl Fields-Smith, “Black Homeschoolers: Nowhere Left to Go,” pp. 278-285.
4. Michael W. Apple, “Educating as God Wants It: Gender, Labour and Home Schooling,” pp. 286-299.

Part VI: Cultural and Intercultural Relations

1. Madalen Goiria, “Carnival of Blogs: An Example of Facilitating Intercultural Relations in Hispanic Home Education,” pp. 303-313.
2. Carlo Ricci, “Homeschooling and the Intercultural World in Which I Live,” pp. 314-320.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in reviews are not the official views of ICHER or of its members. For more information about ICHER’s Reviews, please see the «About these Reviews» Section.