To ask the Minister of Education whether he has given any consideration to introducing a small grant scheme for home educated pupils to pay for external examinations.

The legislative position in Northern Ireland is that parents are responsible for ensuring their child receives an education, at school or otherwise. Where parents choose to educate their children outside the formal, publicly funded school system, responsibility for that education, including any associated costs and examination arrangements, rests with the parent.

My department has not undertaken an assessment of the financial impact of home education on families and I have not considered introducing a grant scheme to support examination fees for home educated children.

Decisions on accepting external examination candidates are a matter for individual examination centres. Schools must consider their available resources, staffing capacity and awarding body requirements, including the need to identify, evidence and implement any access arrangements or reasonable adjustments required for candidates. This can be particularly challenging where a candidate is unknown to the centre and has not been taught or assessed by the school.

In addition, home educating families are not required to follow the Northern Ireland curriculum. Some home learners undertake qualifications that are not approved for teaching in Northern Ireland schools and do not align with those routinely offered by schools. Generally, schools only accept external candidates for qualifications that they deliver to their own pupils. Given the diverse qualifications and circumstances involved, I have not considered introducing measures to encourage schools to accept external candidates.