Fife Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Cllr. James Calder has uncovered figures showing between 2012-2017 the number of home-schooled pupils in Fife have more than doubled from 37 to 75. Cllr. Calder wants to know why this increase has been taking place.

Cllr. Calder has said,

There have been national trends in increased home-schooling, with common explanations including dissatisfaction with the school environment, mental health issues and avoiding exclusion. It is noticeable that there has been a significant increase in Fife over the past few years with the numbers of home-schooled pupils doubling.

I would like to know if there are any patterns in Fife and whether in any of these cases the parents would have preferred their children to go to school but have been disatisfied for any reason. I believe that the Fife Council Education and Children’s Services department should look into this to see if more can be done to accomodate more children in mainstream education.