Why new Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill is controversial

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00:00Hello my name is Amber Allitt and I'm a journalist specialising in education.

00:04The Labour Government's new Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill has now had its second reading

00:09in the House of Commons. But some facets of the bill, which proposes extensive changes

00:14to safeguarding practices among other things, have attracted some criticism.

00:19Here are two parts of the proposed legislation that have proven controversial.

00:231. Restrictions on homeschooling

00:28Under the bill, not all families will automatically have the right to homeschool their children,

00:33including those subject to child protection plans.

00:37Councils will have to create registers of children who are being home-educated,

00:41and they will also be able to make children attend school and potentially even penalise parents

00:46if they find the home learning environment to be unsuitable.

00:49Homeschool support group Educational Freedom described the proposed changes as very scary

00:54on their website, saying the new local authority powers would be invasive,

00:58not respectful of most home education systems, or the child's right to privacy.

01:052. Less freedom for academies

01:08Currently, state-funded academies are able to have their own pay and conditions frameworks for

01:12teachers, and they don't have to follow the national curriculum. Both of these things

01:17would change under the new bill. This has been criticised by the Conservatives, who say it could

01:22lead to a pay cut for many UK teachers. Meanwhile, the Confederation of School Trusts says that

01:29freedom and flexibility is part of the reasons that academies have been so successful, and instead,

01:34all types of schools should have access to those same freedoms.