Educational authority on the outskirts of schooling
Knowledge and expertise in home education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19217547 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jessica Gerrard (0000-0001-9011-6055, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author), Bonita Cabiles (0000-0001-6358-0426, Contextual Change (United States)), Maree Martinussen (0000-0003-1243-7691, Charles Sturt University), Benjamin Zonca (0009-0004-2272-8630, The University of Melbourne), Christopher T Mccaw (0000-0002-9827-0572, The University of Melbourne) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-17 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-07 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Journal of Sociology of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0142-5692 • E-ISSN: 1465-3346 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01425692.2026.2665429 |
| OpenAlex | W7160511989 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
This paper explores the experiences of parents who reject formal schooling, providing home education for their own children. At a time of debate about knowledge and expertise, we examine how home educators—operating on the outskirts of formal education—curate knowledge and define their educational authority. Based on interviews with 15 Australian home educators, we show how they sought knowledge aligned with their values, their children’s interests, and with notions of flexible, authentic and holistic learning. They describe intuitive practices of sourcing and discerning knowledge, often taking cues from other home educators—what we refer to as ‘networked expertise’. Home educators distanced themselves from the authority as ‘teacher’, claiming educational authority as an extension parental identities and practices. The analysis reveals home education as a productive and porous boundary, a position from which home educators critique formal schooling, whilst also invariably acting in relation to it
Comparative education · Education theory · Educational research · Ethnography · Higher education · Home education · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms · Education Methods and Practices · Religious Education and Schools
Disability, Mothers, and Organization
Reasons for home educating in Australia
Interpretation and Method
Fundamentalist Christianity, neoliberal capitalism, and the destruction of rural public education
Unschooling motherhood
Parental rights and state concerns
Whither the Common Good? A Critique of Home Schooling
Choice without markets
Facts, power and global evidence
| Highly cited | No |
|---|