Homeschooling around the World: Australia & New Zealand

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

10 Apr 2008 03:18 PM

Homeschooling is alive and well in Australia and New Zealand. Initially, homeschooling made it possible for children in remote areas to be education. Now families may choose to homeschool for any number of reasons.

Homeschooling in Australia

Australia: There are between 15,000 and 20,000 homeschoolers in the country, according to reports from different educational agencies. Homeschoolers have access to public homeschooling programs as well as private. Some of the private programs available are Australian Christian Academy, Swan Christian College Online, and Yea High School. Unschooling is also popular in Australia.

Australia has three homeschool associations. They are the Home Education Association Inc. (HEA), the Tasmanian Home Education Advisory Council, and Home Education Victoria also known as Alternative Education Resource Group (AERG) and Home Education Network. (HEN) Australian homeschoolers have access to many other online resources, like support groups and legal assistance. Australia also has its very own Homeschool Legal Defense Association.

Homeschooling in New Zealand

New Zealand: Homeschooling is legal as long as families register with the Ministry of Education. They may be visited at any time by a school official to make sure children are learning as they would in school. It 1966 is estimated that there were 7,000 home schooled children. The number is likely to be much higher now.

New Zealand homeschoolers have access to two major associations, which are The Home Education Foundations and The National Council of Home Educators of New Zealand. There are also several legal organizations and well as many support groups and online resources.

Homeschooling Around the World: African & Asia

Homeschooling around the World: Australia &; New Zealand Homeschooling around the World: The Americas

Homeschooling around the World: Europe Homeschooling Requirements in the United States

Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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BarbaraNZ (23) 13 Jul 2008 05:22 PM

Thanks for these statistics Andrea.

The information on the statistics in New Zealand are incorrect. Here are the correct figures:

Number of Homeschooled Students in NZ 1998-2007 http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/schooling/homeschooling2/homeschooling

At 1 July 2007 there were 6,473 homeschooled students recorded on the Ministry of Education's homeschooling database, which represents less than one per cent of total school enrolments at July 2007. These students belonged to 3,349 families.

In 1966 there would have been less than 100 children being home educated in New Zealand. Infact the MoE had no idea how many were being home educated because School Principals approved the exemption not the MoE. The School Principals did not report back to the MoE on who was Home Schooling.

Andrea Hermitt (5472) 13 Jul 2008 07:02 PM

Thanks for the update.