equal to, if not more advanced than their mainstream educated peers. One example they gave is how they understood the importance of needing to develop a social network of connections to advance in work and employment contexts. They would make a connection to their home education by detailing to me how they felt being home educated exposed them to a wider range and diversity of social connections, such as by engaging with entrepreneurs, religious figures, members of their local community, public speakers, museum curators etc. from an early age. This was something they felt their schooled peers may not have had the same access to. A lot of their early experiences of work came through these connections that they made during their home education. For example, several went into outdoor education through connections with instructors they were taught by during their home education. One of the interviewees, David, talked to me about the advantage of particular characteristics he felt he had gained through home education, such as being able to self-direct. He discussed how he has received feedback from managers about how he surpasses a lot of his schooled peers in terms of knowing what was needed of him and what his bosses needed before they needed it. David felt this is the sign of a particular mindset that home education helped him to develop that people who have been mainstream educated do not have. Several other participants also referred to this mindset through traits such as self-determination, self-guidance, selfstarting, and having a genuine passion and interest in the line of work they chose to pursue. LONG-TERM IMPACT It was clear from talking to these previously home-educated adults that they had not forgotten their personal experiences of home education, irrespective of how long ago they happened. There was a sense of the centrality of their experiences in shaping them into the people they have become. Home education was more than just a form of education for many of them. Most described it as being a ‘lifestyle’ and not just ‘a choice to be made’ by themselves or their parents on their education. It was something that defined their whole lives, including how they lived as adults personally and professionally. Dexter gave an example of this: “It’s all interlinked because part of what I was exposed to when I was being home educated has shaped absolutely everything that came after. When I was being home educated, I would learn from role models which involved my family but also artists, entrepreneurs, and the like, but also there would always be opportunities to be had to learn more and to do exciting projects, and so the mindset that this involved is something that has stayed with me considerably. “I do think there is a lot to be said for home education as a lifestyle. My home education cannot be extracted and seen individually from the other parts of my life because they are all so deeply connected in ways I can’t even always explain.” Dexter is not the only respondent to continue to structure his life around the practices and values he had been exposed to during this ‘lifestyle’ by actively seeking out or setting up their own sources of work and employment in the present. This was especially the case for those who went into selfemployment or valued selfdevelopment for career progression within their respective industries. Gareth provided an interesting illustration of this: “I think it’s hard not to remember when it’s such a huge part of our lifestyle and even now after I officially should have finished home educating, I’m still choosing to engage in a form of home education to educate myself with the skills needed to go into games development. There is always a new skill that I’ll need to learn to be successful in this area, so it felt natural to use the practices and the lifestyle of home education to get to where I want to be going with games development. I just see working as a continuation of my home education.” A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE While the popular narrative may like to focus on the potential negative consequences for home-educated children, my interviews have told a different tale. Speaking to these 31 individuals reveals stories of skills and successes they feel they would not have had if they had come through mainstream education. They are individual case studies, and not everyone will have the same tale to tell, but their experiences reveal that there can be advantages to home education, just as there can be pitfalls, and that the children who emerge as adults can benefit in the world of work – as can their employers. FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 45 Dr Rachael Barrow is a Senior Teaching Associate in the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology. Her Doctoral Thesis at Lancaster University in 2024 was entitled There’s no place like home education: A narrative-based analysis of the personal experiences of work and employment of home educated people. r.barrow@lancaster.ac.uk
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