• The number of students being homeschooled is skyrocketing, with more than 2000 entering homeschool since the start of this year.
• The biggest increases are in Northland and Southland.
• Some educators are worried parents have pulled their children out of school after falling victim to Covid disinformation and because of Covid anxiety.
• Concerns have also been raised about a lack of “check and balances” to make sure homeschooled students are well-educated.

The number of homeschoolers in New Zealand has jumped by 80% since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting concerns about the standard of home education.

Auckland principal Stephen Lethbridge​​ said he’d previously seen the ministry approve homeschool applications when parents were “functionally illiterate”.

“We’d write to the ministry and say we don’t think that is a good idea, and their homeschooling application was still granted,” he said.

More than 2000 students have entered homeschool since the start of the year and some educators say Covid-19 disinformation is adding fuel to the fire.

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Northland and Southland have seen the biggest rises, with 91% and 86% increases, respectively, in homeschooled students since New Zealand’s first Covid case.

They were closely followed by Auckland and Bay of Plenty, which both saw an 80% increase. Waikato and Wellington saw the lowest increase at 45% and 56%.

Despite a small dip in May, when mask rules were relaxed, the number of children in homeschool is still on the rise.

But the sudden jump in children being homeschooled has worried educators, who said they were concerned families may be being pushed away from mainstream schooling because of Covid disinformation.

“I don’t want to be picking up the mess in two or three years because these children have no formal education,” said Pat Newman, the chairperson for Tai Tokerau Principal’s Association.

‘Schools are the piggy in the middle’

Newman said he believed Covid conspiracy was the main driving force behind Northland families fleeing mainstream schools.

“Since Covid, there’s been heaps of rumours spreading online around what schools are doing,” he said.

Those rumours included “ridiculous” social media posts claiming schools would force children to get vaccinated.

“There’s a large group of middle-class New Zealanders who have bought into this idea,” Newman said.

In March 2020, the month of New Zealand’s first Covid case, Northland had 516 homeschoolers. By July 2022, that number had risen to almost 1000.

Newman also said a number of families may be entering homeschool because of Covid anxiety.

“We have some people leaving – they don’t want their kids around others not wearing masks. Schools are the piggy in the middle,” he said.

Kyle Brewerton, the principal at Auckland’s Remuera Intermediate, said the increase in homeschooling was due to a combination of factors.

“It includes those who are disenfranchised, those who have disconnected from that schooling system. Families who have disconnected from day-to-day life.

“We still have parents coming to us to say that we’re mad for thinking that masks are a good thing,” he said.

‘No one is monitoring them’

A jump in homeschooling wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, Newman said.

But he was concerned there wasn’t enough follow-up on the large number of families pulling out of mainstream education.

“There are some families that do homeschooling very well. But if you believe that these [Covid-related] rumours are true, then one might question your ability to think,” he said.

Newman believed there should be more “checks and balances” to make sure homeschooled students were well-educated.

Auckland principal Kyle Brewton agreed, saying it was “a lot of work” to homeschool children.

“There is the legit group of families that put their life and soul into educating their kids, but that’s not who we’re talking about.

“If you have some system of accountability, then [the increase] would be all right. But no one is monitoring them,” Brewerton said.

Once a family has been granted a certificate of exemption, they are then “legally responsible for proceeding, supervising and monitoring their child’s learning”, according to a Ministry of Education spokesperson.

A family needs to make a twice-yearly declaration that homeschooling is continuing in order to keep their certificate.

If someone raises the alarm that a child may not be well-educated at home, then the ministry may review the child’s education, the spokesperson said.

When asked about the government’s role in checking up on families, the Ministry of Education said it may contact parents for information about their homeschooling “from time to time”.

But Newman said this was not enough.

“When people apply for homeschooling, there needs to be some checks done to see if they are capable of teaching their children,” he said.

Parents needed to show they were fit to teach their child before they could withdraw their child from mainstream school, Ministry of Education spokesperson Helen Hurst said.

“To be able to home school, parents and legal guardians must demonstrate to the ministry that their child will be taught at least as regularly and as well as they would in a registered school.”

However, she stressed that homeschooling should not be treated as a short-term solution to pandemic problems.

“Given the physical, mental and emotional benefits of being in school, we encourage all students that can attend school to do so,” she said.