The latest numbers of students registered for home education are from a report March 2019 from NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority). From 2014 with 3298 to 2018 with 5429 home educating students. The number of unregistered students is unknown but anecdotal evidence suggests it could be a similar figure.

“New South Wales has experienced a 24% growth between 2014-2016, following a dip after the introduction of new regulations in 2014. At the time, there were 3,327 students registered for homeschooling with the NSW Board of Studies [now NESA], which has now grown to 4,100 respectively.

Victoria and NSW account for 54% of homeschool registrations nationwide.” – The rise of home education in Australia February 2019.

This graph is interesting as it shows the percentage of home educators who are being given shorter registration periods. Using 5,429 as the 2018 figure, the students registering for the first time who got the full 12 months initial registration was 78% with renewal of registration receiving the maximum time period of 24 months was up at 87%.

It would be interesting to see what plans or reporting is being rejected or given shorter registration periods by NESA so that we can all learn what not to do when registering.

How many schools would it take to educate 5,429 students in NSW?

Approximately 105 Primary School classes just like the one above, and 90.5 high school classrooms to accommodate all the home educated students with a 50/50 spread of primary to high school students. This is just a representation of what that many students may actually look like with the average primary school class of 26 students and high school class of 30 students. Financially, at an average of $16,000 per student for tuition (not accounting for additional learning support funding or infrastructure funding) would cost the Federal Government approximately $86,864,000 if all home educated students were to enrol next week.

If we were to acknowledge the 1/4 of all registration applications in NSW that choose to state that they home educate with a child with special needs, including levels 1-6 of $6,400 to over $60,000 per student per year, this could equate to a total funding for all home educated students to over $115,000,000 per year.

Just as soon as the latest numbers from NESA on registration for home educated students are available they will be shared with you here. Don’t forget to subscribe.

Ed Consult. Supporting Home Educators Across Australia.