How can the dual identity of “teacher” and “parent” influence the decision to homeschool in Australia?

Drawing from interviews with early childhood, primary, and high school educators who homeschool, authors Rebecca English and Gemma Troughton explore the ways their experience influences their understanding of themselves as both teachers and parents. Canaries in the Coalmine delves into the reasoning behind following an alternative education path, the approaches taken by home educators, and how they navigate the differences from mainstream education. This book also invites readers to consider the wider implications of this movement: what does this choice mean for schools, the community, and the teacher shortage?

This book is ideal reading for students and practitioners of Education, and Sociology, as well as Teachers, Policy Makers, Education Administrators, Home Educators, Parents, and Guardians.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Abstract
• Warning
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 What is homeschooling anyway?
  • Learning objectives
  • Introduction
  • What is homeschooling?
    • Rebecca’s story
  • How to categorise homeschooling
    • Accidentals versus deliberates
    • Styles of homeschooling
      • Traditional
      • Classical
      • Stages of the Trivium
      • Charlotte Mason
      • Montessori homeschooling
      • Project and unit-based
      • Unschooling
      • Steiner/Waldorf homeschooling
      • Faith-based
      • Eclectic
  • Is homeschooling a shadow or analogous education?
    • Shadow education
    • Analogous education
  • Statistics on registration and homeschooling in Australia
    • Bringing it all together
• 2 Our homeschooling teacher participants
  • Learning objectives
  • Introduction
  • Microschools, small school closures, and problems in the institutionally aligned space
  • Pulling parents into homeschooling and pushing parents out of school
• 3 Homeschooling versus traditional school: They are not the same thing
  • Learning objectives
  • Introduction
  • Why are teachers homeschooling their own children?
  • Why do teacher families say they homeschool?
  • The biggest push factor in the choice to homeschool
    • Gemma’s story
    • Our teachers challenged the idea of “school refusal”
• 4 What do these data tell us about “school choice?”
  • Learning objectives
  • Introduction
  • Homeschooling as a school choice
    • Why do people choose home education?
  • Homeschool challenged their beliefs about quality teaching and learning?
  • Bringing it all together
• 5 Why would I want my child in that environment?
  • Learning objectives
  • Introduction
  • Previous experiences with homeschool
  • Previous experiences in schools
  • How do they report their experiences?
  • Bringing it all together
• 6 Tipping points
  • Learning objectives
  • Introduction
  • Teachers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic around policies and procedures
  • Finding joy in homeschool, in spite of its challenges
  • Bringing it all together
• 7 Where to from here?
  • Learning objectives
  • Are teachers who homeschool isolated?
  • The system
  • The curriculum
  • Alternative options
  • Not just for teachers: A note on homeschooling
  • Positive outcomes
  • Bringing it all together
• References
• Index

Rebecca English is a qualified teacher, homeschooler, and Senior Lecturer at Queensland University of Technology.

Gemma Troughton is a teacher, homeschooler, and sessional Lecturer at Queensland University of Technology.

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