Because of the unique way it is funded....

...the BBC will mot bother to check its facts.

Auntie Beeb has excelled herself today, with a rather unsubtle attempt to libel the entire home education community as child molestors. They've done a stealth edit to cover their tracks, but via the Google cache, here is the original piece.

 

 The key section is this:

Judith Gillespie, of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, was worried that there was not register of youngsters withdrawn from school.

She cited a case involving five-year-old Danielle Reid, who was murdered by her mother's partner in Inverness in 2002.

A report into the case found the authorities had lost track of the youngster when her mother withdrew her from school.

As far as this goes these statements are true, but there is no connection with home education whatsoever. According to the independent report into Danielle's death, her mother claimed that the family were moving to Manchester. This is why Danielle was taken out of school. Quite how Judith Gillespie can attempt to make make a link with HE is beyond me. It looks like a rather transparent attempt to smear a lot of innocent people.

Comments

[andrew duffin]

Judith Gillespie is a strange and shadowy character who has "previous" in things like this.

She (is it a real person?) always pops up when something tendentious and controversial has to be said in the field of State Education, usually a snide attack on some ungood participant like homeschoolers or the School Board system.

I think she is some sort of thought-form extruded by the Scottish Educational Establishment, used whenever a deniable smear or rumour needs to be put about.

Treat anything she says with considerable care.