Home Schooled Due to Bullies | Australia

Posted By Ina Woolcott

PARENTS of both bullying victims and expelled bullies are turning to home schooling in a bid to salvage an education for their children.

There are now an estimated 22,000 students learning from home in Queensland, double the number counted by a government working group in 2002.

The bullying epidemic in the state's schools is behind the increase, according to the Home Education Association.

Association spokeswoman Colleen Strange said it had become the last resort for both the bullied and their bullies.

"It's disturbing. I even have teenagers contacting me saying, 'Please talk to my mother and tell her what she has to do because I can't spend another minute in that school'," Ms Strange said.

"I even have people who have been excluded from school for bullying contacting me. They have no choice, they have to be educated somewhere."

Home education is a "lawful alternative" for students of a compulsory school age, but Education Queensland sets out strict guidelines. Those wishing to go to university have to sit a special tertiary admissions test.

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