When the latest Elective Home Education figures were released, many headlines focused on one number:
126,000 children in England are now recorded as being electively home educated.
For some people, that statistic will be interpreted as a sign that more families are choosing home education. In part, that's true. There are many families who actively choose home education because it aligns with their values, their lifestyle or the way their child learns. Many are thriving and would not choose a different path.
But when we speak to families every day at Sunshine Support, we hear another story too. One that isn't always reflected in the headlines.
Many parents tell us they never planned to home educate. It wasn't something they researched during pregnancy. It wasn't part of a carefully considered educational philosophy. In fact, many describe spending years trying to make school work before eventually reaching a point where they felt they had run out of options.
For these families, home education wasn't necessarily a choice.
It was the least harmful option available.
That distinction matters.
When we look at the statistics, it is easy to assume that every family represented by those numbers has actively chosen to educate at home. Yet many parents describe a very different journey. They tell stories of children becoming increasingly anxious, distressed or exhausted. They describe attending meeting after meeting, asking for support, waiting for assessments, chasing responses and trying every strategy suggested to them.
Often, the decision to remove a child from school comes after months, or even years, of trying to keep them there.
By the time home education becomes a reality, many families are emotionally exhausted.
The narrative that parents simply decided school wasn't for them doesn't always match what families are telling us.
In recent years, we've also seen persistent absence remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. Severe absence has increased. At the same time, home education numbers have continued to rise. Whilst these statistics don't automatically prove a connection, they do raise important questions.
If more children are struggling to attend school, and more children are being educated outside of school, what does that tell us about children's experiences of education?
- What barriers are families encountering?
- What support is missing?
- And why are so many parents reaching a point where educating at home feels like the only realistic option left?
These are not comfortable questions, but they are important ones.
One of the challenges with attendance data is that it only tells us part of the story. Once a child leaves the school roll, they are no longer included in attendance statistics in the same way. As a result, attendance figures can improve whilst significant numbers of children continue to struggle with accessing education.
That's why we need to be careful about assuming that improving attendance automatically means improving outcomes.
Attendance and educational engagement are not always the same thing.
A child can be physically present in school whilst feeling unsafe, overwhelmed or unable to learn. Equally, a child educated outside of school may be making progress, rebuilding confidence and beginning to reconnect with learning after a prolonged period of distress.
The real question is not simply whether children are attending school.
The question is whether children are able to access an education that meets their needs.
When Ashley Cornish spoke about home education and educational disengagement, one of the themes that resonated strongly was the need to move beyond simplistic narratives. Families' experiences are complex. Some children flourish in school. Some flourish outside of it. Some move between different forms of provision over time.
What becomes clear very quickly is that the story is rarely as straightforward as the statistics suggest.
- Behind every attendance figure is a child.
- Behind every home education statistic is a family.
- And behind every family is a story that deserves to be heard.
Perhaps that's why these numbers matter so much. Not because they tell us everything, but because they remind us to ask better questions.
Instead of asking why more children are being educated at home, perhaps we should also be asking what children and families are telling us about their experiences of education.
Instead of focusing solely on attendance percentages, perhaps we should be paying closer attention to belonging, safety, wellbeing and engagement.
Because children are more than attendance data.
And families are more than statistics.
These are exactly the conversations we'll be exploring during School Avoidance Awareness Week 2026.
Throughout the week, we'll examine what sits behind attendance difficulties, educational disengagement and the rise in alternative educational pathways. We'll explore school climate, neurodivergence, anxiety, legal rights, Section 19, recovery-focused approaches and practical strategies that can support children to re-engage with education in a way that feels safe and sustainable.
If you've ever looked at the statistics and felt there must be more to the story, we'd love you to join us.
👉 Find out more and secure your place:
The figures referenced in this article come from the Department for Education's official Elective Home Education statistics, published through the Government's Explore Education Statistics service.
According to the latest release, local authorities reported approximately 126,000 children in England being electively home educated during the autumn term of 2025. The wider dataset also shows that 175,900 children experienced elective home education at some point during the 2024/25 academic year.
These figures continue a trend that has been developing for several years and raise important questions about how children and families are experiencing education across England.
This topic was explored in greater depth by Ashley Cornish during a recent discussion on educational disengagement, school attendance and elective home education.
Ashley raises some thought-provoking questions about what sits behind these statistics, why families find themselves considering alternative educational pathways and what children may be communicating through their attendance difficulties.
You can listen to the full discussion here:
The challenge for all of us, whether we're parents, educators, policy makers or professionals, is to resist the temptation to view these figures as simply a trend.
Some families are thriving through home education and would not choose any other route. Others describe arriving there through exhaustion, desperation or a lack of suitable alternatives. Unless we take the time to understand those different journeys, we risk missing the most important part of the conversation.
And perhaps that's the real story behind the statistic.
