Record: Dumfries and Galloway Parenting Science Gang, “Flexischooling in Scotland: What We Did and Why” in Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives 8(2019): 58-67.
Summary: The Dumfries and Galloway Parenting Science Gang is a Facebook group formed in 2017 of four women from the same region (Dumfries and Galloway) interested in studying parenting. They decided as a group to study flexischooling, the phenomenon of children attending school part-time and homeschooling part-time. These parents’ research was funded by the Wellcome Trust, which sponsors seven other Parenting Science Gangs studying other aspects of parenting in Scotland. After approving this group’s project, the Trust hired Dr. Tara Jones, now at Lancaster University, and Dr. Conney Gollek of the University of the West of Scotland to help conduct the research.
The parents first wanted a raw count of the number of flexischoolers in Scotland. They contacted all 32 Local Authorities (LAs) in Scotland to find out the number and the LA’s policies and procedures. Twenty-nine responded with usable data. The overall number reported was just under 350, small but growing, and policies varied dramatically in terms of what level of government is responsible for overseeing the approach, and in terms of data collection. Glasgow, for example, which is the largest city in Scotland, reports zero flexischoolers, because the LA in charge doesn’t bother keeping track.
Next, the parent researchers wanted to find out about the families choosing flexischooling. They received surveys from 23 such families, with 30 children represented. The six oldest children in the surveys, interestingly, all had special needs. This was the motivation for these families, and the motivation for the others, all of whom had younger children, was the perception that school was too long for their children. Time off of school ranged, but the most common scenario was one day a week at home. Flexischooling thus served for most of these families as a psychological break for their children, allowing them to perform better in school when they were there. Drawbacks expressed included fears that their children would fall behind academically, be ostracized socially, or aggravate the school or teacher because of the frequent absences. However, the life-work balance flexischooling provided was praised again and again in these interviews.
Finally, the parent research team interviewed four classroom teachers about flexischooling. These teachers did not think flexischooling interfered with their class time. They did, however, worry that children who are absent regularly may miss out both academically and socially. In general, however, these teachers were supportive. Why, then, do schools frequently turn down flexischooling requests? Two reasons, said the teachers. First, a lot of teachers and school administrators haven’t experienced flexischooling, so they tend to think of it only as an absence rather than as something that contribute positively to a child’s learning. Second, they defensively worry that if flexischoolers do just as well as other kids even if they aren’t coming to school as much, what does that say about the education school is providing?
In their discussion the parent-researchers note that teachers instinctively thought first of what might be missed when students flexischooled, while parents thought instinctively of what was gained. They also discuss a need for more clear and consistent policies across Scotland’s regions.
Appraisal: I love the idea of parent-led research and am impressed by the quality of what was produced here. The methods could have been explained a bit better (for example, we don’t know how many samples were sent out, just that 23 completed ones were returned, nor do we know how these families were selected, anything about their demographic profile relative to the rest of the country, and so forth), but overall I really liked the combination of quantitative data on the overall phenomenon with qualitative study of both parents and teachers. Very few academic studies are able to accomplish so much in so little space. I agree with the authors that flexischooling is important to study. Schafer and Khan, for example, used 2012 data from the National Center for Education Statistics in the US to describe a significant flexischooling population, especially in rural America among families whose children have special needs. I expect more research on this topic as hybridized learning options increase.
Milton Gaither, Messiah College