Preparing for a successful Assessment
Preparing for the assessment
Once you have applied to home educate your child/ren at home, a member of the AEARS team will be in contact to organise an initital assessment. The assessment is an opportunity for you to show how you are providing this education for your child based on your initial application form. Every family is different and home education can be and look different for individual families.
HEN is here to support you on your journey through home education. This guide is in no way prescriptive, it’s entirely for your support and to help parents be less anxious about the assessment process.
Some tips before the assessment:
Before the assessment you may like to ask your assessor:
- What is their plan for the assessment/how long should it take?
- What are their objectives for the assessment?
- Are they requesting to see your child?
You should look at the assessment as a chance to share how home education will work for your child and your family. Home education is different for every family and there is no one way that suits every child. Your home education journey is a fantastic opportunity to follow your child’s interests and your child’s needs and the assessment is an opportunity to shine a light on your unique journey. Many families report that they really enjoyed talking in depth about everything they are doing to provide an education to their child.
Some suggestions
- Take some time to think about your reasons for home educating along with your philosophy and jot some points down.
- Take time to explain to the assessor the changes you have seen in your child (if they were in school previously and had a tough experience) and highlight the positives. (More engaged, less anxious, etc).
- If you are feeling very anxious about the assessment, ask for support from HEN, and from local groups. HEN is there to help and is a great community of like-minded parents who have been through this process and will support you. If you are on your own, perhaps you could ask a friend to join you for support on the day of the assessment and have it agreed with the assessor beforehand.
- Print off your application form that you submitted to AEARS to help you guide your thoughts.
Special Needs
If you have special needs, or your child has special needs, communicate with the assessor and perhaps prior to meeting provide them any OT, SLT, GP, CAMHS supporting information so that they understand your family’s circumstances, and adapt their assement to your child/ren’ needs.
Keeping records
There is a very useful page on record keeping on our website that shows you all the different ways you can keep records depending on your homeschooling approach and your children’s learning style, » Learn more about record keeping.
The Assessment
On the day of the assessment, your assessor will bring a template report form to assist with note-taking. The assessor will begin by asking about the choice of education provision you have chosen for your child. They will ask about educational provisions, specifically in the following areas:
- The Learning Environment
- The Education Provision
- Language Literacy Skills: Oral language, Reading Skills, Writing Skills
- Numeracy
- Other Areas of Learning
- Physical Development
- Social Emotional & Moral
- Irish/and or other languages
- Assessment and record keeping
The assessment is carried out in accordance with age, ability and aptitude of the child.
Post-Assessment Process
You did it! You got there. Well done- you are nearly at the finish line! After your assessment AEARS will send a report out to you reflecting the assessment. This is your time to read the report and correct any inaccuracies within it. Once you are happy with the report and you agree with its findings, you will send it back to AEARS.