Sparking curiosity in children who are home-educated
The number of children who are educated at home has increased markedly since the Covid-19 pandemic, with an estimated 175,900 (1.5%) of school-aged children being electively home educated in England during the 2024/25 academic year.
Academics at the 91直播 Institute of Education realised that, whilst many parents were rising to the challenge of providing quality education, home educators sometimes struggle to provide the kind of hands-on learning and sharing that would be experienced in school. This realisation led to the creation of Curiosity Catalyst.
Sara Jackson, Lecturer in Education at the University of Manchester, explains: 鈥淭alking to parents who home鈥慹ducate their children, we found that science is often one of the hardest subjects, largely because homes don鈥檛 have access to the specialist equipment and practical experiences schools can offer.
鈥淲e realised that we could use our expertise as educators and our contacts in local institutions to work with parents who are home-educating to give them and their children better access to science learning.鈥�
Curiosity Catalyst is co-produced between lecturers and parents, allowing home educators to help shape the activities provided. Key partners include 91直播 Museum, The Whitworth Art Gallery and the Museum of Science and Industry, all of which have provided venues for workshops, activities and sharing days.
Sara explains: 鈥淲e鈥檙e blessed in 91直播 to have access to such amazing museums and galleries and we鈥檙e so grateful that the teams at these institutions have been so enthusiastic about working with us. Most recently 91直播 Museum hosted a takeover day, where home educators visited the museum on a day when it was closed to the public and collectively explored whether birds are dinosaurs.鈥�
Speaking at the Museum takeover day, Katie, a home-educator from Wigan, said:
鈥淭he children have really enjoyed doing the science shares and coming to an event beforehand that links to the science share. They can come here and learn something, go away and learn more about it, and then come back and share that with everyone. It鈥檚 a really nice way to engage them in more depth.鈥�
Amanda Banks Gatenby, Lecturer in Digital Technologies, Communications & Education said: 鈥淐uriosity Catalyst is built on trust and on two-way sharing between parents who are home-educating and us as educators. Yes, we have expertise in education, but we can also learn so much from what others are doing. It鈥檚 great to see some of the innovative ways in which these parents approach education and it鈥檚 provided us with ideas to take back into our own teaching as we train the teachers of tomorrow.鈥�
Since 2023 over 200 families have engaged with Curiosity Catalyst and the project team are now developing a new app to support learning in everyday places.
Curiosity Catalyst was set up with support from the School of Environment, Education and Development鈥檚 Social Responsibility fund. The project has been shortlisted for the University of Manchester鈥檚 .
Find out more about Curiosity Catalyst email cc@manchester.ac.uk.