Identifier: TFG:522
Authors: Gimeno Gas, Esteve
Abstract:
Homeschooling, home education, education from home or family education are some of the words used to refer to the option of the parents to take in the children's education outside the school. This work aims to carry out a legal analysis on the homeschooling in order to assess if this educational method has legal and constitutional lace in our OJ. The work combines the search of bibliography and jurisprudence with interviews to homeschoolers families. Homeschooling originated in the late 20th century in the USA; quickly, spread over Europe becoming an international practice. The legal configuration of homeschooling is varied, since there is no common policy within the framework of the EU in this matter; in general, the countries of Northern Europe -Denmark, UK...- present a permissive legal regulation, while those of the South -Spain, Greece...- show a restrictive attitude. In the case of Spain, with about 2,000 families, the article 27.4 of the Spanish Constitution provides for the compulsory and free character of the basic education, without specifying the pedagogical formula to follow. Although the CE does not refer to the obligatory schooling, the legislator has played a restrictive interpretation, designing a unique model –the compulsory schooling- without providing alternative ways to educate, to hamper the legal lace of homeschooling; this interpretation is supported by the TC which, in the STC 133/2010, considered the obligatory education to be a "proportionate measure", although not essential, as the experience of other countries shows the existence of mechanisms that allow to harmonize better the interests of children, parents and public authorities. In short, a modification of the educational system that allows the legal practice of homeschooling under some state guarantees to ensure the best interests of the child and the family homeschoolers leave the situation of legal insecurity is required.
Repositori URV