Some are already preparing for the start of the school year by going to buy notebooks and binders. But in the Toulouse academy, hundreds of families do not know what they will do at the start of the school year. Families who until now did school at home. A practice called IEF family instruction according to the terms of national education.
But the government has decided to regulate the IEF from the start of the school year. Since the law against separatism (published in August 2021), a law passed to reinforce the principles of the Republic, the rules of school at home have changed. Before, families had to declare this choice and then they were checked. Now these families are subject to authorization.
Administrative court hearings
And the problem is that the rectorate of Toulouse grants very little right to this IEF. In the Toulouse academy, all the new files are readjusted. It would even be among the most restrictive academies in France on the subject. The families therefore decided to file an appeal before the administrative court. The files of two Tarn families will be examined in particular this Tuesday, August 2. The Tarn has about 200 children who follow the IEF and a very active group called Le NonSco’llectif.
Those families who request permission for home education advance the ground of “situation specific to the child”. Other reasons such as the practice of a sport, an art, homelessness or a health reason can also be taken into account. About 62,000 follow instruction in a family in France, ie 0.4% of children of school age. Figures which have greatly increased after the confinement but also with the obligation of schooling for children at 3 years old in 2019. (against 6 years previously.)
Discrimination
Children who have had the agreement of the IEF before this spring will be able to continue until 2024 by derogation. So Jalil is a totally helpless dad today. One of her daughters is homeschooled. The second asked to do it but we just refused. And the Tarn does not understand. He is like many families sentenced to an appeal before the administrative court.
The collective recalls that in France, it is not not school, which is compulsory, but education. Families who choose the IEF are subject to annual checks by the National Education. A new rule when their families were even very controlled says Agnès, mother of three children aged 6, 9 and 12.
The families of the collective have launched a kitty to support all those who have launched legal proceedings.