Sexual Misconduct and the Culture of Home Schooling

• In Event: Research, Remedy, and Repair: An Administrator’s Guide to Preventing School Employee Sexual Misconduct

Abstract

Homeschooling is often misinterpreted to mean that all learning happens at the child’s home, under the instruction of the parent. However, homeschooling is much broader than this. In some cases, students attend public school classes, experiences and courses offered by independent organizations and adults, higher education courses and experiences, and online learning. However, learning occurs, and scholars note that the culture of homeschooling is different from the culture of public schools. Nevertheless, home school students interact with adults in many forums, including unsupervised activities.

This research examines the risk of school employee or volunteer sexual misconduct and the role that home-school culture plays in the prevention of school employee sexual misconduct. Empirical evidence will be carefully considered while acknowledging that different stakeholders in the educational milieu maintain relatively set philosophical, political, and religious commitments.

The research analyzes what initiatives, programs, or policies would enhance children’s safety overall and for homeschool students in particular. The results or conclusions that are warranted so far are that empirical evidence to date shows that educator and school-related worker sexual misconduct toward children in institutional school families is a serious societal problem. Also, a research body is growing that suggests homeschooled children are somewhat less at risk than institutional school children. More empirical work needs to be done.

The scientific and scholarly significance of this paper hinges on the facts that (a) children are to be protected by adults, especially educators and all involved in schooling/education, and (b) there has been recent heated academic and general-population controversy over whether children in homeschool families are at any more or less risk of abuse neglect in general, or sexual maltreatment in particular, than children in institutional school families. Little has been studied or written about sexual misconduct within the home-school community. This paper adds to the literature.

Author

• Brian D. Ray, National Home Education Research Institute