South African homeschool parents often ask “What curriculums are approved by the Department of Basic Education?” or whether a curriculum they fancy is “approved”.
“I am using another curriculum at the moment and we are registered with the Department of Education.
If I go over to your curriculum, how do I have to go about that?
Do I have to let them know about the change, or can I just carry on?
I feel that the amount of work they have to do to stay on track is too much for them and they will benefit so much more from Footprints, because it is this kind of things that interest them the most.”
~ Melanie Brown, Middelburg, Mpumalanga
[used with permission]
The Answer to Homeschool Curriculum Approval
International law, the SA Constitution and the SA Schools Act allow for the registration of children for homeschooling, but some homeschool legal experts say this registration is not compulsory.
In many places, the officials administering homeschool registrations are not familiar with the nature of homeschooling or the law on home education, and as a result they often insist that parents meet unlawful requirements.
The Consitition is supreme law in South Africa and art. 29(1) states that everybody in South Africa, including children has the right to basic education. This means that each one has the right to decide whether they want basic education, where they want to receive this education and what the content of this education should be.
Because children need parental care, art. 28 (1) (b) of the constitution provides that parents must make these decisions about what is in the children’s best interests.
Government officials often require that parents must submit the curriculum that they plan to follow for their approval. On 25 March 2011, Judge Cynthia Pretorius confirmed in the Pretoria High Court that the state curriculum is not binding on independent schools and parents who educate their children at home. (We can concluded then that neither is any other curriculum!) Since then, other government officials have also re-iterated that parents may choose any curriculum that is in the best interests of their child and meets the minimum standards of the national curriculum, such as this statement about Curriculum Compliance in the Western Cape.
There are now so many curriculum options that many new homeschoolers find this decision quite overwhelming, so we offer essential tips and advice in our article Choosing a Homeschool Curriculum, based on over 20 year of being in the home education community. Choosing the best homeschool curriculum can be compared to choosing a car: what suits one family’s criteria will be quite different to another!
Despite the fact that the South African constitution, international law and court judgements all confirm that only parents have the authority to decide the type and content of the education for their children, some officials still act as if choices about homeschooling are theirs rather than the right of parents. Footprints Guidelines for Registration with the DBE will help you through that process, if you choose to register your children.
While we believe it is well within your rights to choose the curriculum that you would like to use with your children, it would be wise to avoid any unnecessary conflict with the officials and we would therefore strongly advise you to seek legal advice from the Pestalozzi Trust for your unique situation, before you have any further contact with officials from the Department of Education.
Tel 012-3301337
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