THE EVOLUTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF HOME EDUCATION IN EUROPE

Author: Apostolos Karaoulas

ABSTRACT

Home education in Europe has a deeply rooted and diverse history, intricately linked to social, political, and cultural developments, while simultaneously reflecting the ongoing transformations of the educational landscape. From its earliest mentions in educational contexts, where a limited number of students received private instruction or were taught by exceptional tutors, home education was often a privilege reserved for aristocratic or affluent social strata. However, its development has also been closely tied to the needs of lower social classes in their pursuit of access to knowledge. Education outside institutionalized structures has consistently served as a counterpoint to formal schooling, at times reinforcing social differentiation and division, and at other times offering an alternative for those unable to attend traditional schools.

It also emerged as a pragmatic response to the social needs of each era, while challenging the traditional values upheld by the formal education system. Inevitably, its evolution has been shaped by broader political, social, and technological changes across Europe, adapting its form and character to the specific needs of each historical period and, in turn, reshaping conceptions and standards in education. As political and social priorities have shifted, home education has evolved into new forms aimed at broader social inclusion, gradually distancing itself from the rigid ideological frameworks of the past. The rise of technology has significantly influenced its form, with modern digital home education emerging as a new modality that transcends traditional boundaries of space and time. Incorporating elements of technology, it offers opportunities for personalized learning and creates new challenges around democracy and access to knowledge. Today, developments in home education extend beyond technological advances; they also reflect the ongoing need to redefine the relationship between knowledge, society, and educational institutions in Europe.

Keywords: Home education, private education, alternative forms of teaching, educational standards, education system, personalized learning

REFERENCES

  • Aissaoui, N. (2022). The digital divide: A literature review and some directions for future research in light of COVID-19. Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, 71(8-9), 686-708. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-06-2020-0075
  • Apple, M. W. (2004). Ideology and curriculum (3rd ed.). Routledge
  • Apple, M. W. (2006). Educating the right way: Markets, standards, God, and inequality (2nd ed.). Routledge
  • Archer, M. S. (2013). Social origins of educational systems. Routledge
  • Ball, S. J. (2003). Class Strategies and the Education Market: The Middle Classes and Social Advantage. Routledge
  • Ball, S. J. (2003). The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 18(2), 215–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268093022000043065
  • Ball, S. J. (2012). Global Education Inc.: New Policy Networks and the Neoliberal Imaginary. Routledge.
  • Baschet, J. (2018). La civilisation féodale: De l’an mil à la colonisation de l’Amérique. Paris: Flammarion. [In French]
  • Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.
  • Bloch, M. (2014). Feudal Society. Routledge.
  • Charles-Warner, W. (2024). Education Otherwise: Fifty Years of Home Education.
  • Compayré, G. (1904). Histoire critique des doctrines de l’Éducation en France depuis le seizième siècle. Paris: Hachette.
  • Condorcet, M. (1976). Selected writings (K. M. Baker, Ed.). Macmillan Pub Co.
  • Copenhaver, B. P., & Schmitt, C. B. (1992). Renaissance philosophy. Oxford University Press
  • Erasmus, D. (1998). De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis. De ratione studii. De conscribendis epistolis. Dialogus Ciceronianus. North-Holland Publishing Company. (Original work published 1531)
  • European Commission. (2020). Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027: Resetting education and training for the digital age. Publications Office of the European Union. https://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/document-library-docs/deap-communication-sept2020_en.pdf
  • European Commission. (2021). Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027: Resetting education and training for the digital age (COM/2021/22 final). Publications Office of the European Union. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021DC0022
  • Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.). Vintage Books. (Original work published 1975)
  • Garin, E. (1957). L’educazione in Europa 1400-1600 [In Italian]. Laterza.
  • Grafton, A. (2011). Worlds made by words: Scholarship and community in the modern West. Harvard University Press.
  • Grafton, A., & Jardine, L. (1986). From humanism to the humanities: Education and the liberal arts in fifteenth and sixteenth-century Europe. Harvard University Press
  • Green, A. (1990). The state and the rise of national education systems: A comparative study of educational development in England, Prussia, France and the USA. Palgrave Macmillan
  • Grendler, P. F. F. (1991). Schooling in Renaissance Italy: Literacy and Learning, 1300-1600. Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Gumbrecht, H. U. (1997). In 1926: Living at the Edge of Time. Harvard University Press.
  • Hanna, L. G. (2011). Homeschooling education: Longitudinal study of methods, materials, and curricula. Education and Urban Society, 44(5), 609-631. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124511404886
  • Herbart, J. F. (1806). Allgemeine Pädagogik: Aus dem Zweck der Erziehung abgeleitet. J.F. Röwer. [In German]
  • Holloway, J. B., Wright, C. S., & Bechtold, J. (1990). Equally in God’s image: Women in the Middle Ages. Julia Bolton Holloway.
  • Hunter, I. (1994). Rethinking the School: Subjectivity, Bureaucracy, Criticism. Routledge
  • Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling society. Harper & Row.
  • Kristeller, P. O. (1965). Renaissance Thought II: Papers on Humanism and the Arts. Harper & Row.
  • Kunzman, R., & Gaither, M. (2013). Homeschooling: A comprehensive survey of the Research. Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, 2(1), 4-59.
  • Le Goff, J. (1980). Time, Work, and Culture in the Middle Ages. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Lubienski, C. (2003). Innovation in education markets: Theory and evidence on the impact of competition and choice in charter schools. American Educational Research Journal, 40(2), 395–443. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312040002395
  • Lubienski, C., & Lubienski, S. T. (2013). The public School advantage: Why public schools outperform private schools. University of Chicago Press
  • McKitterick, R. (1989). The Carolingians and the written word. Cambridge University Press
  • McLaughlan, N. (2020). How to homeschool during the coronavirus outbreak. Billa Books
  • Ministère de l’Éducation nationale. (2021). L’instruction dans la famille. Ministère de l’ Éducation nationale. Available at https://www.education.gouv.fr/l-instruction-dans-la-famille-340514
  • Montaigne, M. de (1993). The Complete Essays (trans. M. A. Screech). Penguin Classics. (Original work published 1572)
  • Nath, A. (2003). Bildungswachstum und äußere Schulreform im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert: Individualisierung der Bildungsentscheidung und Integration der Schulstruktur. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 49(1), 8-25.
  • Pestalozzi, H. (1801). Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrt: Ein Versuch, den Müttern Anleitung zu geben, ihre Kinder selbst zu unterrichten, in Briefen. Heinrich Gessner. [In German]
  • Popkewitz, T. S. (2000). Educational Knowledge: Changing Relationships Between the State, Civil Society, and the Educational Community. SUNY Press.
  • Rancière, J. (2009). The emancipated spectator (G. Elliott, Trans.). Verso.
  • Riché, P. (1962). Éducation et culture dans l’Occident barbare, Vie-VIIIe siècles (Patristica Sorbonensia, t. IV). Paris: Éditions du Seuil. [In French]
  • Rothermel, P. (2015). International perspectives on home education: Do we still need schools? Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Rüegg, W. (2004). A History of the University in Europe: Volume I -Universities in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press.
  • Schipperges, H. (1977). Diätetik für den homo literatus. Ein historischer Beitrag zur Gesundheit der Gelehrten. In: Springer, K.F. (eds) Semper Attentus. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-66735-0_50
  • Selwyn, N. (2021). Education and technology: Key issues and debates (3rd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.
  • Southern, R. W. (1997). Scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe, Volume I: Foundations. Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Spiegler, T. (2010). Parents’ motives for home education: The influence of methodological design and social context. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 3(1), 57-70.
  • Taylor, C. (1992). Sources of the Self: The Making of the modern Identity. Harvard University Press.
  • Thomas, A., & Pattison, H. (2008). How children learn at home. Continuum
  • Tröhler, D. (2011). Languages of education: Protestant legacies, national identities, and global aspirations (1st ed.). Routledge
  • Van Bijsterveld, S. (2013). Een vergeten episode uit de schoolstrijd: de ontdekking van ‘openbaar’ en ‘bijzonder’ onderwijs. Tijdschrift voor Religie Recht en Beleid, 4(3), 16-32. https://doi.org/10.5553/TvRRB/187977842013004003003
  • Verger, J. (2013). Les universités au Moyen Âge. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. [In French]
  • Vives, J. L. (2007). The education of a Christian woman: A sixteenth-century manual (C. Fantazzi, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1524)
  • Williamson, B., & Hogan, A. (2020). Commercialisation and privatisation in/of Education in the context of Covid-19. Education International. https://issuu.com/educationinternational/docs/research_covid-19
  • Yin, D. (2022). The importance and relevance of home education: Global trends and insights from the United States. UNESCO GEM Report Fellowship Programme. https://gem-report-2021.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Yin.pdf