Under this Act, all children falling within the compulsory education period (6.6 to 17 years*) are required to be enrolled in an approved educational/training program. Parents who wish to educate their children from home are required to apply to be registered as the children's home educator.
Government responsibility for the monitoring of home education programs has been delegated to home education moderators. A child's home educator is to arrange for an evaluation to be made of the child's educational programme and progress by a home education moderator,
within three months of the date of registration and at least
once in each twelve month period following that registration. Although the onus is on the family to arrange assessment visits, it is most likely that your assigned moderator will telephone you to arrange for a meeting at a time that is convenient to you. You are advised to contact your local Education District Office if a meeting has not been arranged within the given time frame.
Moderator meetings are usually made at a time and place agreed upon by both parties, while this
may be in the family home, it is not a requirement that the meeting take place there. Many people are happy for the moderator to come to their home, but if you are not, arrange the meeting for somewhere else. This may be somewhere such as the moderator's office, coffee shop, public library etc. If you are at all concerned about what will occur during a visit, contact your moderator beforehand and ask them to email you a an overview of what they will be expecting. Where ever possible both parents are encouraged to attend moderation visits.
If the moderator has any concerns regarding the educational program provided, or the progress made by students, these should be forwarded to you in writing within seven days of the visit. Further information about the steps that are likely to be taken in such cases is outlined in the Department of Education and Training's Home Education Policy Document that can be accessed at
http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/homeeducation.
At the meeting you will be asked to provide evidence of your program and your child’s development, this can be achieved in a variety of ways from power point presentations to verbal reports of what you and your children have done or intend to do.
Your children do not have to be in attendance during any of your moderator's visits, generally it is a good idea that children are not present for the first meeting to enable you to get a handle on things.
Following an evaluation, the moderator will write a report about the educational programme and progress, one copy of which should go to the home educator, if you have not received the report within eight weeks please contact your moderator.
At the end of your child’s home based education it is advisable to contact your moderator and ask for a letter stating that from this date to this date your child was registered as a home based learner for inclusion in your child’s portfolio. For more information on portfolios see the menu Portfolios and Higher Education.
To register as a home educator, the Department of Education and Training requires you to complete and lodge a form, which is available from your local District Education Office. Your application for registration is to be made by the last Friday in February in the first year of registration, or within fourteen (14) days of the last day on which the child was recorded as attending a school. Once the application for registration has been processed you will receive your Certificate of Home Education and a copy of the Curriculum Framework.
Registration is ongoing, unless it is cancelled by the home educator or by the chief executive officer - there is no requirement for annual re-registration. A child's home educator is responsible for the child's educational programme from the date set out in the certificate as the day of registration.
Registration is usually only given to Permanent Residents or Citizens of Australia and New Zealand, but, if your child has been registered in the school system, you are then eligible to apply for registration as a home educator regardless of status of residency.
