My perspective on education lost
Jane Stratton
It's going to be alright!
With much negativity surrounding children who are not attending school, I want to share some of my story to try and dispel fears. Perhaps media-fuelled, the pessimism surrounding lack of school attendance, and its possible consequences, has created a ripple effect throughout the population, resulting in real panic amongst many parents up and down the country. Having three youngsters with autism and other neurodivergence, I am very familiar with the ups and downs of the current education system. Suffice it to say, not one of my children has had a conventional route through school; the shortest period of absence of any of them was two years. My youngest is still of school age; they are now in 6th Year and have missed years and years of school throughout their time in education. We made the decision about four years ago together with them, that they would never again attend a mainstream provision. It was too damaging for them.
Luckily, there was a school that seemed to meet their needs and they have attended this specialist school for about three years. Educationally, this has fallen short of their needs but in other ways, it has been okay. They recently gained an offer for deferred entry to St Andrews University and are also setting up a business. My older children have 6 Highers each; one has been a student at St Andrew’s University and the other lives independently and is a qualified chef.
Why am I telling you this? ……. because there are numerous children at the moment, out of school and many people in society believe that they will amount to very little in life. This is simply not the case! School is not the place for individuals if they feel utterly unsafe there. This is the reality of it. It's not that they would rather be in their bedroom, isolated from the world, 'different' from their peers in terms of daily life. No. They simply cannot go to school due to the extreme anxiety and terror they feel when they are in the building. However, this does not mean that they cannot come back from this. We have to acknowledge how they feel and adopt a nurturing attitude towards them. If we show them we believe in them and that we are listening to them, they can, and will, thrive.
As a parent who has experienced the overwhelming fear of how much school a child was missing, I can identify with the worry many parents are currently feeling. However, that experience of parenting children having extensively lengthy periods of school absence (at a time when all other pupils were attending) has taught me that it has not mattered in the slightest to their results at the end of the day. I appreciate that I am in a unique position, having experience where others do not, but I want to reassure those who are worried, that it will be okay. More and more children are struggling in our education system. It is not the children who are the 'problem'. We need to take a serious look at the school environment before more individuals are harmed within their four walls. I am often heard to say that neurodivergent children are the ones that could go on to change the world.........as long as school doesn't break them first!
The children quite literally will make our future society. Far from being a lost cause due to intermittent and inconsistent education, I think we are most definitely looking at a group of the most resilient, caring and appreciative youngsters who are well placed to be strong adults of the future.
If you are a parent of a child not attending school just now, please try, if you can, not to worry about education lost, and trust me when I say everything is going to be alright. I would love to hear in the comments below how your children are doing and if you would like to find out how S.O.I. could help them make the most of their learning in whatever capacity they are able.
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