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  3. (1) Council leaders are calling on the government to give them greater powers

(1) Council leaders are calling on the government to give them greater powers

游客2023-10-28  15
问题    (1) Council leaders are calling on the government to give them greater powers to check on the growing number of children who are apparently being home-educated—a trend that is thought to be linked to a rise in the number of illegal schools across England.
   (2) The schools watchdog Ofsted has previously said unregistered schools are exploiting the rules on home education. The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales, wants local authorities to be given powers to enter homes and premises to check on the suitability of education being offered. It also wants to be able to compel parents to register home-educated children to help councils monitor their education and prevent children from disappearing under the radar. The LGA raised concerns that some illegal schools had been linked to the teaching of extremist views.
   (3) In recent months Ofsted inspectors have launched a crackdown on what they say is a growing number of illegal or unregistered schools, some of which have been found operating in unsafe and unhygienic premises, run by staff who have not been vetted.
   (4) The chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has claimed that some unregistered schools are "using the freedoms that parents have to home-educate their children as a cover for their activities" and are exploiting weaknesses in the current legislation to "operate on the cusp of the law".
   (5) Any parent has the right to withdraw their child from mainstream education, and they do not have to give a reason for doing so. Other children remain hidden from the authorities because they have never been to school. Council officials can enter premises to check up on the education of a child only if they have specific concerns about a child’s safety.
   (6) Colin Diamond, the executive director for education in Birmingham, said a number of illegal schools in the city had been closed down in the last year after joint inspections by Ofsted and the council. He said he was particularly concerned about the regulation of elective home education (EHE)—where parents decide to provide education for their child at home rather than sending them to school—which he believes is inadequate.
   (7) " We feel that any EHE learning situation potentially puts a child in a very vulnerable position," said Diamond. " We recognise that parents elect to educate their children at home for a very wide range of reasons, and in many cases they do a great job. But because the child is isolated, they are not visible to their peer group and professionals don’t keep an eye on them, we would like more powers to be able to make sure every child who is EHE is safe, well and learning well. "
   (8) At the moment 900 children are registered as EHE in Birmingham. "Those numbers have been growing in the last couple of years. We are very interested in finding out the deeper reasons why," said Diamond.
   (9) Wilshaw said in May that more than 100 suspected unregistered schools had been uncovered by inspectors in a five-month period. " Evidence inspectors have gathered over recent weeks has reaffirmed my belief that there is a clear link between the growth of unregistered schools and the steep rise in the number of children recorded as being home-educated in England over the past few years," he wrote.
   (10) Diamond said one of the reasons families were choosing not to use state schools was that they wanted their daughters taught separately from boys. Other reasons included concerns about bullying in schools or special educational needs not being adequately met.
   (11) He called for local authorities to be given more powers to oversee supplementary schools, which typically hold classes in the evening and are not required to be inspected. " As education gets more complex and fragmented, local authorities are in that unique position of being able to hold it together locally on the ground," he said.
   (12) A Department for Education spokesperson said, " It is unacceptable for any child of compulsory school age not to be receiving a suitable education. We recognize parents may choose to home school their children and many do a good job, but it must be of a suitable quality. That’s why we have taken steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people, while at the same time safeguarding the rights of parents to determine how and where to educate their children. We have also announced an escalation of Ofsted investigations into unregistered schools, with additional inspectors dedicated to rooting them out, a new tougher approach to prosecuting them and a call to local authorities to help identify any settings of concern. " [br] The problems of unregistered schools may include all the following EXCEPT______.
选项 A、the propagation of some dangerous and harmful ideas
B、incapacity to ensure the security of the children
C、limiting parents’ freedom to educate kids at home
D、leading to more drop-offs from mainstream schools
答案 C
解析 细节题。原文第二段最后一句和第三段集中讲到unregistered schools的问题，而在第九段中再次提到了非法学校的话题。其中第二段最后一句提到这些学校可能传播一些极端思想，故排除[A]；而第三段指出这些学校的环境条件往往是不安全和不卫生的，故排除[B]；第九段中提到这些非法学校被证实与离开主流教育的学生人数激增有关，可知它们可能导致更多学生离开主流学校，故排除[D]。原文多次强调家长有自由选择在家教育孩子的权利，故[C]与原文不符，为本题答案。
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