Is the Welsh Education System Failing? What Parents Are Doing About It

Concerns about the Welsh education system are not new, but they have intensified sharply in recent years. PISA rankings have consistently shown Welsh pupils performing below the UK average in reading, mathematics, and science — results that prompted major curriculum reform with the Curriculum for Wales, fully implemented in schools from 2022. Against this backdrop, the number of children in elective home education in Wales has climbed steeply. In the 2024 to 2025 academic year, 7,176 children were formally known to Welsh local authorities as home-educated, a figure that sector experts believe significantly understates the true total.

Understanding why so many parents are leaving — and what documentation they need when they do — matters practically, not just theoretically.

What the Data Actually Shows

Welsh schools have faced several compounding problems simultaneously. The rollout of the Curriculum for Wales introduced entirely new "Areas of Learning and Experience" replacing traditional subject boundaries, requiring teachers to deliver unfamiliar content while managing the disruption of restructuring. Estyn inspection reports across multiple local authorities have highlighted concerns about pupil progress, particularly in literacy and numeracy at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3.

PISA 2022 results placed Wales 34th out of 37 OECD countries in mathematics — a result that sparked significant public debate. Reading and science scores showed similar trends. The Welsh Government has pointed to the curriculum transition as context, arguing improvements will emerge as the new approach embeds. Many parents, however, are not willing to wait.

A second pressure point is the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) system. The ALN and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 replaced SEN statements with Individual Development Plans, a transition that was still being completed in 2025. Families of children with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and anxiety disorders have widely reported that schools are struggling to implement IDP provisions correctly or on time. For these parents, the experience is not abstract — it is a child in distress, support not materialising, and a sense that fighting the system is consuming more energy than educating at home would.

Why Home Education Numbers Are Rising

The Welsh Government's own statistics reveal a striking pattern: the most common age for home-educated pupils is 15. In 2024 to 2025, approximately 50 out of every 1,000 fifteen-year-old female pupils in Wales were electively home-educated. The rate among 16-year-olds has increased 27 times compared to 2009 to 2010.

These are not young children whose parents had always planned to home educate. These are teenagers being withdrawn mid-secondary school, often in the years leading up to GCSEs. The drivers parents cite most frequently include:

• School anxiety and school refusal that schools failed to manage
• Bullying unresolved through formal complaints processes
• Failure to deliver promised ALN support under IDP frameworks
• Curriculum inflexibility for children who learn differently
• Concerns about overall academic standards

None of this means home education is an easy alternative. Pulling a child from school mid-Key Stage 4 creates significant logistical challenges, particularly around GCSE access. But for many families, the calculation has shifted: the difficulties of home education are manageable, while the difficulties within the school system are not.

What Leaving School in Wales Actually Requires

Deregistering a child from a maintained school in Wales is straightforward in law. A parent notifies the headteacher in writing; the child's name is removed from the register. There is no waiting period and no LA approval required before education begins at home.

However, once you deregister, the local authority has a legal duty under Section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to identify children not receiving a suitable education. This means an EHE officer will make contact — typically by letter — requesting information about your provision. This is not optional on their side: the duty is statutory.

The legal test in Wales is whether the education is "efficient and suitable" — efficient meaning it achieves what it sets out to achieve, suitable meaning it prepares the child for life and enables them to reach their potential. Crucially, the Welsh Government's statutory guidance confirms that home-educated children do not need to follow the Curriculum for Wales, meet a set number of hours, or be tested in any particular way.

That freedom is real. But you still need to demonstrate suitability when asked.

The Documentation Gap

Here is where many families run into difficulty. They have made the right decision for their child and are delivering genuine education. But when the LA enquiry letter arrives, they have no structured way to present what they are doing.

Generic portfolio templates from English EHE sites or US-focused homeschool planners do not address Welsh law. England operates under Department for Education guidance; Wales operates under the Welsh Government's Elective Home Education Guidance (2023). The terminology, the legislative references, and the frameworks are different. An English template submitted to a Cardiff or Swansea EHE officer signals immediately that the parent is not familiar with Welsh-specific rights and requirements — which is the opposite of the impression you want to create.

The additional complexity for families in Wales includes:

IDP transitions: If your child held an Individual Development Plan at school, deregistration triggers a formal LA panel review. The panel decides whether the child continues to have ALN that the LA must maintain an IDP for. You will need documentation showing how home provision meets the IDP's objectives.

WJEC private candidate requirements: Welsh pupils generally sit WJEC qualifications. As a private candidate, you need to find an approved centre willing to register your child and authenticate any Non-Examination Assessments. For subjects like Art and Design or Drama, a centre will only sign JCQ authentication forms if there is a clear, documented record of supervised work.

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Amendments tabled in March 2025 applied proposed "children not in school" measures to Wales, moving toward a mandatory register. Families who already maintain proper documentation are in a far stronger position when these changes take effect.

Making the Transition Practical

The parents who manage the transition to home education most successfully tend to share one habit: they start documenting from day one, not from the day an LA letter arrives.

A practical portfolio does not require replicating school. It requires capturing what actually happens — reading done, projects completed, trips taken, skills practised — in a format that maps the activity to the legal test of "suitable education." One representative piece of work per week, filed consistently, gives you 40 pieces of evidence per academic year without significant additional effort.

The annual education report is the most powerful tool available. A well-structured three to four page report summarising your child's progress — organised around literacy, numeracy, broader curriculum subjects, and social development — can satisfy an LA enquiry entirely, removing the need for home visits or submission of your full physical portfolio.

If you are ready to formalise your documentation specifically for Wales, our Wales Portfolio & Assessment Templates include all the frameworks described here: philosophy statements, annual report templates, IDP continuity trackers, WJEC NEA authentication logs, and the legally referenced cover letter for responding to LA enquiries. Built for Welsh law, not adapted from England.

The Welsh education system's difficulties are real and documented. So are the rights of parents who choose a different path. Getting the documentation right means you keep the freedom — and the protection — that those rights provide.

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