Victoria – Home Education Network

August 11, 2020

Paying it Forward

By Sue Wight I delight in the fact that home education has grown so significantly over the last twenty years. The HEN community I joined way back in 2000 was only 86 families whereas we now have over 1000. While small, the early community was very active and characterised by a culture of skill-sharing. Some were good at maths but lost with craft activities, […]

June 30, 2020

Partial school enrolment in Victoria

What is partial enrolment? Partial enrolment is when a home educated student attends a school for classes in a specific subject/s or period of time during a school week. The school can be either a private school, or a neighbourhood government school. The arrangement is unique to the student and the school, and is negotiated between the parents and school. School year level may […]

June 15, 2020

How to Register in Victoria

This video explains how to register in Victoria (12 minutes) Links mentioned are: Application form, learning plan templates and samples Legal page including partial enrolment Resources page Distance Education Materials Join HEN Attendance during the waiting period Our Getting Started Guide

June 5, 2020

Exiting School (Victoria)

This information is also available in a pamphlet format. If your child is aged under 6 or over 17, they are NOT legally required to attend or be registered for home education. The information below applies to children of compulsory school age (6-17). What does the law say? In Victoria, the law requires children to attend school or be registered for home education. While […]

November 18, 2019

2019 HEN Survey

HEN surveys the home education community to help shape our future work. While we operate mainly in Victoria, our stats can be useful to home educators anywhere in Australia. HEN works hard for the home ed community. If you’re not yet a member, please consider joining. Membership is only $25 per year including digital Otherways Magazine (or $45 with printed copies). 2019 results: and […]

July 29, 2019

The Effectiveness of Home Education

By Sue Wight Whether we home educate from the start or as a result of school problems, we observe our kids learning firsthand. Most of the time, that’s all the evidence we need. But many of us have occasional doubts and have relatives who want to know if we are limiting the children’s future. Governments and media also want solid data on home education […]

November 13, 2018

Skills First Submission

Home educated students are effectively locked out of VET funding at the moment and HEN is trying to get this changed. Our submission is below. An explanation of acronyms is provided below the submission for younger families. Acronyms and terms: VRQA: Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority – the registration body which registers home ed students of compulsory education age. DET: Victorian Department of Education […]

September 25, 2018

VHEAC permanency

HEN would like to see VHEAC made permanent to ensure that all home education policy decisions, requirements and supporting documents receive input from experienced home educators. The current position of the major political parties is: ALP: Minister Merlino says VHEAC will run through to mid-2019 when VHEAC members will “collectively decide on the future format and functions of the committee.” While that doesn’t rule […]

July 16, 2018

Beyond Home

Home Ed Activities Around Victoria Home education doesn’t mean all learning happens in the home: the world really is your classroom! Victoria offers many free and low cost activities. You can plan your activities as a family or link up with a group of home educators to go along together. Many venues that cater to school groups also have education materials available on […]

June 10, 2018

The Paradox: Home ed and VET funding

When Victorian home ed teenagers transition to full-time TAFE, they de-register from home education and enrol under the same funding arrangements as any other student. Many of our students do this and 48 TAFE courses becoming free in 2019 will help facilitate such transitions. However, if students wish to complete certificates as part of their home education, they face hefty fees. Meanwhile their school peers can […]

May 11, 2018

Registration and Learning Plans

This information applies to Victoria, for interstate legal information, visit our Legal page. Registration Victorian Home educators are required to register with: Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) Ph: 03 9637 2806 Email: home.schooling@education.vic.gov.au Registration requires an Application form (Word or PDF) together with a Learning Plan for each child. See our video on How to Register Learning Plans Learning plans do not have to be […]

May 10, 2018

HEN 2018 Survey of Vic Home Ed

The Home Education Network (HEN) seeks to inspire, inform and support home educators. We also advocate politically and represent home education in the media when required. HEN surveys the home education community to help shape our future work. HEN works hard for the home ed community. If you’re not yet a member, please consider joining. Membership is only $25 per year including digital Otherways […]

February 16, 2018

School attendance during the approval period

Victorian law requires children to attend school OR be registered for home education. While awaiting registration approval, school attendance is required. However, there is provision for non-attendance set out under section 2.1.3 of The Education and Training Reform Act (details here) e.g. for illness, accident etc suspension/expulsion child’s disobedience the parent has provided a reason to the principal and the principal accepts that reason. […]

January 3, 2018

The effectiveness of HEN

HEN has a long and proud history of standing up for home educators’ rights in Victoria. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information during our regulations campaign confirm HEN’s continued advocacy has been very effective in keeping legal requirements reasonable over the years. Amongst reasons noted for the lower regulation in Victoria compared to other states is: Homeschooling advocates have been influential in their resistance to any moves […]

November 13, 2017

Should you look at the Victorian Curriculum?

By Bekah Carman In Victoria we are required to provide “regular and efficient instruction that taken as a whole, substantially addresses the [8 key] learning areas”. These learning areas, which we call the KLAs, are English, Maths, Science, Technology, Languages (other than English), Arts, Health and PE, and Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS). The problem with the requirement to instruct in the 8 KLAs […]

August 23, 2017

Regulations campaign wrapup

HEN has a long and proud history of standing up for home educators rights. With new Education Regulations developed, HEN’s lobbying resulted in a disallowance motion being put in the Legislative Council on 23/8. Unfortunately, the vote was 20:20 so the motion was lost by 1 cross-bench vote. You can read the actual debate in Hansard (see p4307) Be proud – there are many positives The government […]

August 16, 2017

Educating Claudia

By Kerstin Scheel Eighteen-year-old Claudia was in and out of school but the system never met her needs. We had several stints of home education which, although challenging, was the best option available for much of the time. Claudia has Down Syndrome and educating her has been a continual battle in terms of both appropriate provision and funding. During the prep transition process, we […]

February 18, 2017

Handbook of Home Educated Alumni

Home education began in Victoria with half a dozen parents in the 1970s With the first generation of home educated students now adults, we set out to find out where they are and what they are doing. Some have entered school, some have gone straight to further education or careers. They have taken a variety of pathways and are living proof that home education […]

January 23, 2016

Other Ways

By Dindy Vaughan Not every child is happy at school. Some struggle along grudgingly, some fight the system, some opt out and refuse to achieve; and mostly their parents worry. In many cases it comes down to ‘school refusal’. The state of Victoria currently has not hundreds, but thousands of school-age children who are simply refusing to go. The majority are not rabble-rousers and […]

September 2, 2015

Home Educating Gifted and 2e Kids including Victorian resources

Starting home education can be quite daunting—doubly so if you are deciding to home educate children with diverse learning needs, whether they are gifted, disabled, or both (called twice exceptional or 2e). Neurodiverse kids tend not to fit in neat school boxes, and can be a challenge to parent and to home educate. Defining Giftedness Though giftedness can be hard to define, there […]

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