ERO Reviews - the Process

From time to time, a home educating family may be informed that ERO is to conduct a review. Under current policy (since 2009), this usually only happens as the result of a complaint. (For more on the history and statistics of ERO reviews see HERE.). However, it can also happen because ERO choose to do a review of their own initiative, or because the Minister directs them to do reviews. The Ministry might also initiate a review process due to concerns arising from reading a new exemption application for a family that is already homeschooling, or based on "other relevant and verified sources of information." 

In this article I will outline each of the steps that are supposed* to occur in the process. 

*Sometimes things don't happen the way they are supposed to - if you need help, contact me. 

I strongly recommend that you are contacted about a review, that you get support from someone knowledgeable IMMEDIATELY. A review can be a positive and encouraging process, but it is also innately stressful and has the potential for serious repercussions. Your exemptions are at stake! So, first, get support. You can Contact Me if needed. 

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Step 1: The Ministry responds to a complaint/concern

If any person (they can be anonymous) contacts the Ministry of Education and expresses concern that a home educated (exempt) student is not being taught as well or as regularly as they should be, then the regional office make note of this complaint, and conduct an "initial investigation" which should involve two parts:

​1) Asking the complainant some questions to ascertain the grounds for the complaint – do they actually know the family/child, do they have specific educational concerns (or do they just need to be given some information about how homeschooling actually works) etc. You'd be amazed how often "complaints" happen that are either made out of ignorance or by people who don't actually know anything about the child and their learning. 

Some (experienced) staff are very good at doing the above. Others skip right over this step and move on to....

​2) Write to the family concerned, notify them that a complaint has been received, give the specific educational concerns mentioned and provide them with the opportunity to comment. Families are informed in the letter that an ERO review may occur, but that the Ministry is first seeking information from them before determining whether this is necessary.

Things to note:

• You have a right to see a copy of the complaint (if it was by phone, then the notes made by staff). You can request this from the Ministry, and it will be treated as a Privacy Act or OIA request - which means they have up to 20 business days to respond. The name of the person making the complaint will be redacted. You can tell the Ministry that you wish to see the complaint before responding, and thus ask for an appropriate extension if they gave you a set date to respond by. 
• While the Ministry usually doesn't tell you exactly what they're looking for in your response (though if they describe specific concerns you obviously need to speak to those) but usually what you need to do is give them a brief update on your children's learning programme and regularity. It may be wise to seek some guidance in doing this, to make sure you cover what is needed. If you provide the Ministry with sufficient information to satisfy them that your child continues to be taught as regularly and well as, then they will close the file and notify you (and the complainant) that they will be taking no further action. 
• However, if you are in a situation such as a split family where the matter of homeschooling is likely to end up in court, then I advise you to consider politely declining to provide any informing, forcing them to proceed with an ERO review. A positive ERO review can be useful evidence in a court case to show that your child is being "taught as regularly and well as" as ERO are the only ones tasked with making this call, and you can't just request an ERO review. 
• If the complaint is deemed "serious" or if there has previously been a complaint which didn't result in an ERO review, then the Ministry might skip asking families for info and go straight to the next step. 
• They cannot review a student who has turned 16.
• Ministry policy states that if they become aware, in the course of their investigations, that a child has special learning needs, they should seek specialist input from Learning Support. If it is determined that the family could meet s38 requirements with appropriate and available learning support, then an ERO review should not be conducted. 

Important: The Ministry does NOT have the power or authority to review a family themselves. If they tell you they want to visit (or you come to them) so they can conduct a "review" or "informal review", this is a red flag. It's ok if they ask you for information in an email and you tell them you'd prefer to meet in person to go over things - that's your choice. But they should not in any way imply this is required. 

If the Ministry is not satisfied with the response provided by families to their inquiry, the family refuses to respond, or if the complaint was deemed "serious" and they skipped asking for info, then they move on to Step 2.

Other than a complaint about your homeschooling programme, the Ministry might also decide to conduct a review on the basis of concerns they have after reading a new exemption application submitted for an additional child in your family, or based on other "relevant and verified sources of information." A Judge or Oranga Tamariki might also ask the Ministry to arrange a review. In these cases, they are still bound to follow due process. 

As noted above, ERO can initiate reviews independently, or at the direction of the Minister. In those cases, they start from Step 3 below. These situations are rare however, so if you're contacted directly by ERO as your first knowledge of a review, don't assume this is the case - find out why the review is happening. 

Step 2: Ministry requests an ERO review

Your local regional office cannot just directly ask ERO to do a review - they must put the request to the National Office, who should independently review the request and related evidence to make sure the regional office has done its due diligence. If they concur, then they will put the request to ERO to do a review. 

Things to note:

• Legally, the Secretary of Education (aka "the Ministry") cannot order ERO to do a review. They can only make the request. ERO are only bound to conduct a review when directed to do so by the Minister of Education, who is not involved in the situations I am describing in this article. 
• ERO should consider the evidence provided to them by the Ministry and independently conclude that a review is appropriate in the circumstances. This, in theory, provides an additional layer of checks and balances so that families are not subject to reviews unnecessarily. However, I have never heard of a situation where the MoE made the request and ERO said no. The language ERO uses is "The Secretary asked us to conduct a review." which implies a "they asked, we do" approach. When reviews changed from routine to being conducted on a complaints basis, the then-Chief Review Officer announced "ERO will carry out reviews only when requested by the Secretary for Education, or in other particular circumstances."
• If the Ministry decides to request a review on the basis of complaint about one child's education, they will request ERO review all exempt students in the family at the same time. 
• The information that the Ministry supplies to ERO includes your original exemption application/s (and any related extra information if you were asked for some at the time), and the details of the complaint. 
• The Ministry should write to the family informing them of the decision to ask ERO to conduct a review (but only after the National Office have agreed to this). This is policy. 

Step 3: ERO contacts the family to initiate a review

ERO emails the family advising they have been asked to conduct the review and setting out a proposed date and time. They should include the following:

• A form to complete and return, confirming the details of exempt students, whether or not you will have the review at your home, and whether or not the proposed date/time is acceptable. ("Confirmation of Review of Exempted Students")
• A document which outlines particulars of the review interview. ("Education Review: Exempted Students (Homeschooling)")
• A pre-review questionnaire, which asks some questions about your children's learning programme and which they would like you to complete and send back to them along with any evidence you wish to supply. 
• A link to the Evaluative Questions which guide the review (these are the points that they are seeking information on). 
• A link to their Code of Conduct. 
• They may also tell you, as it says on their website, that "Our reviewers may use sections of our School Evaluation Indicators in reaching judgements about your homeschooling programme. The indicators provide examples of evidence for good quality and effective programmes and practice."

They will tell you that at the review, the reviewer will speak to your child/ren, and that when they do, you or another person must be present. 

Things to note:

• It is highly recommended that you have a support person present - ideally someone with homeschooling experience. This person cannot answer for you in the review, but they can remind you of things you planned to talk about but may have gone blank on in the moment (if you've prepped with them), be available to assist with a child who needs attention while you're focused on the review, be present with a child who is being interviewed, and, perhaps most importantly, serve as a neutral witness to what goes on if needed. 
• Also give thought to whether or not to allow ERO into your home. They have no right of entry to your home, (this is explicit in law), and therefore they do not need to see your home in order to conduct a review. Years ago, leaders in the homeschooling community used to recommend NOT having them in your home, but for some years now we have been more relaxed about it. However, recent events, which I will write about separately soon, lead me to strongly recommend you do NOT allow the review at your home. Instead, negotiate with ERO a suitable neutral local place (it needs to be private). The downside of this is that you will need to pack up and lug all your records and other resources you wish to show them to the location of the review (and may wish to print some photos of broader resources etc that they would have seen if they visited the home). However, the upside is that it avoids ERO passing judgements based on people's homes and prevents them from making completely out of scope comments in this regards. 

Meanwhile, you prepare for the review

ERO takes an "evidence-based approach." This means that while you can answer questions and make statements - and need to - it's highly important that you can show evidence to support this. Ahead of the review, you need to collect and collate the evidence that you will present. 

It is also important at the time of the review that you do not assume that ERO will ask for what they want to see - often they will not. YOU need to be prepared and present things to them. (You can also have sent them some good evidence in advance with the pre-review questionnaire, which I recommend you take advantage of).  

Evidence you might want to have ready includes:

• Samples of writing done by the children
• Current and completed workbooks, worksheets or similar
• Photos of projects completed and activities they take part in. ERO will not want to scroll through photos on a device. Print off the photos you want to show them, and suitably collate/present them. 
• Any earned certificates, awards or similar. 
• Any standardised testing you may have chosen to use AND evidence of how you use this to inform your planning and teaching. 
• Other evidence of assessment and record keeping of learning outcomes AND how you use this to inform your planning and teaching
• Term reports if used
• Your reflections or notes, diary or what have you of work completion, activities and learning
• Resources available
• Learning environment - where do the children do most of their learning at home? What other places do they do learning activities?  What places do you go to that serve to enhance or support their learning experiences?
• Documentation of any testing or diagnosis of learning difficulties or disabilities, as well as recommendations for support AND evidence of how you are putting these into practice. 
• Evidence of their participation in/access to social and/or sporting opportunities, clubs, homeschool groups etc.
• Evidence of regularity - timetable, diary showing achieved work and activities or similar
• Portfolios for each child showing much of the above

ERO are going to be looking for information and evidence that enables them to make "findings" on each of the following points:

• ​<Name of child> (is progressing and achieving OR is not progressing or achieving) at a rate and level appropriate to what could be expected for age and stage of learning.
• The homeschooling programme is (effective OR needs improvement) in meeting the learning needs.
• The teaching and management of the homeschooling programme is (effective OR needs improvement).
• Assessment and planning information (is OR is not) used well to monitor progress and inform future learning.
• Achievement information (is OR is not) valid and shows progress over time.
• The home learning environment (supports/does not support) engagement and success in learning.

Their findings on the above points will each be listed in the review report, with a conclusion as to whether or not the child "is being taught as regularly and well as" they would be in a registered school. 

So, you need to prepare information and evidence to allow you to speak to each of the above points (and taking into consideration the Evaluative Questions). 

Step 4: ERO conducts the review

Two reviewers arrive at the appointed time to conduct the review. Typically, one will do most of the talking, and the other will take notes. 

• They MUST (by law) begin the review by showing you their designation - that is, proof of their appointment as review officers. They will ask you to sign a form to say that you've seen these. If they do not show you this, they cannot conduct the review; if they do not comply with this, the entire review is void. 
• Some reviewers will fairly closely follow the Evaluative Questions document in guiding the review. Others don't so much but cover the main areas in their own way. 
• Do NOT assume that reviewers will ask you for everything that they need. YOU need to be prepared and present information and evidence to them to show your children are being "taught at least as regularly and well as."
• The reviewers will take photos of various things to record as "evidence" to support their report. Make sure you present them with the things you want them to see. 
• The reviewers will speak to each child. They are not to "test" the children, but they will ask them questions to encourage responses. Prepare your children by ensuring they have things they can talk comfortably about with the reviewers - such as a project they enjoyed, a model or some artwork they are proud of, a story they wrote that they'd like to read to the reviewers or similar. Another adult must be present with the child. If reviewers cannot speak to a child, they will stop the review. 
• If YOU do not provide them with evidence of your child's current learning abilities, particularly in literacy and math, they may try to gauge this by asking the child to read aloud, or asking a math question etc. No, they're not supposed to test the child, but they will be looking for evidence of some sort of current abilities. 

The review will likely take several hours. At the end of the review, the reviewers will leave for a period of time (usually a couple of hours) and go somewhere to discuss together your review. They will then return to you, and give you an indication of what they expect the outcome of the review to be, as well as share any pointers they may have that they think will help you improve your home education programme. They will give the caveat that they still have to return to the office and put everything together, have it checked by a manager etc, but usually they are able to tell you what the outcome of their report is going to be. 

Step 5: ERO drafts their report

Back at the office, the ERO officers will type up their notes, compile and annotate evidence, complete worksheets, and draft the official report. A manager will go over all this and either agree with the outcomes, or make amendments if they deem it appropriate. 

ERO will then send the draft report (only) to you, along with a response form. You will have up to 10 working days to respond. 

The draft report will include the following:

• Child's name, date of birth, parents' names, your address, date of review and the names of the reviewers.
• A few short paragraphs describing the homeschooling programme, child's particular interests etc. 
• "Findings" where they state each of the following:​

1. ​<Name of child> (is progressing and achieving OR is not progressing or achieving) at a rate and level appropriate to what could be expected for age and stage of learning.
2. The homeschooling programme is (effective OR needs improvement) in meeting the learning needs..
3. The teaching and management of the homeschooling programme is (effective OR needs improvement).
4. Assessment and planning information (is OR is not) used well to monitor progress and inform future learning.
5. Achievement information (is OR is not) valid and shows progress over time.
6. The home learning environment (supports OR does not support) engagement and success in learning.

• Possibly "Next Steps" or "Areas for Improvement" if they want to put any recommendations.
• Conclusion: which will state that the child is or is not being "taught as regularly and well as". Note that "as regularly" and "as well" are two separate things, and are judged separately. So the judgement, could, for example, state that the child is being taught as regularly as but not as well as or vice versa. 

Step 6: You respond to the report

If you're happy with the report, you can simply use the response form to confirm that there are no errors of fact, and send it back. 

If, however, you believe there are errors in the report, or you disagree with the findings, then you will want to respond by listing what you consider to be the errors, explaining what the issue is, as well as providing evidence to support your position. ERO operate on an evidence-based approach, so just saying you disagree won't work. You need to provide evidence. 

This may be where you end up sending scans/photos of things you have already shown them, but they didn't take photos of, or things you had ready to show them, but they didn't look at. 

In theory, if you can show them evidence and speak suitably to a point, they will make changes to the report. Experience, however, has shown that while they may amend or add a sentence or two as a result of your response, ERO has never been known to change their "bottom line" (ie conclusion) no matter what you send them. Don't let that discourage you from sending a meaty response when needed. I'm just pointing it out so you are prepared. Regardless, it is never a waste of time to properly respond - because what you send will become part of the file, which may come in handy later. 

Particularly if you think the findings of the report are unfair, or if what is in the report seems at odds with what the reviewers told you at the time, it can be useful to request a copy of your file from ERO under the Privacy and/or Official Information Act. You would do this by asking for a copy of all notes, evidence, information and documents held by ERO that form part of or were considered in your review. You can also request that the timeframe for you to respond to the review report be extended to allow you to receive and consider this information. A typical such file can be around 200 pages (will vary depending on the number of children). When I review such a file, here's what I focus on, in this order:

• The typed worksheets completed by the reviewers. This will have remarks for each section, their judgements on each point, and ultimately conclusions for each child. 
• The Peer Review Attestation (aka moderator reports) which is usually about 2 pages. Here you will see if the moderator has disagreed with any of the reviewers' findings, and why, and if they have changed judgements, and why. 
• The photos of evidence and the annotations (or notes) written about them. 
• The handwritten sheets of notes the reviewers took during the review. 

For both of those last two things, they are likely to have highlighted various things in one of three colours - green means "good", yellow means "to note" and purple means "of concern". The highlighted points as well as handwritten red notes next to their original notes will be the main things that have led to their ultimate conclusions. 

If reviewers have come to a positive judgement on a point, and then the moderator has changed it, speaking to this in your response will be important. The same applies if the reviewers have reached a negative judgement on a point, for reasons you believe to be in error. 

Step 7: The report is finalised

After considering your response, ERO will finalise the report and send a copy to both you and the Ministry's National Office. The N.O will then forward it on to your regional office for follow up. 

Step 8: The Ministry follow up

If the outcome of your finalised report is that the child "is being taught as regularly and well as" then the Ministry will send you a letter which states that they have received the report, are satisfied, and will be taking no further action. 

If the report included suggested next steps, then the Ministry will consider whether there is any action they need to take on their end (eg if it suggested the Ministry should provide learning support to the child), however the parent is under no obligation to take any further action. (This is stated in the Ministry's Policies and Procedures manual). 

If the outcome of your finalised report is that the child is NOT being taught either as regularly or as well as (or both), then the Ministry will send you a letter that states this and giving you the opportunity to comment before they make any decisions. 

It is important to understand here that the Ministry has the right to revoke your exemption on the basis of a negative review report, but only after they have made reasonable effort to obtain all relevant information, which is why they are giving you the opportunity to comment. 

This is your opportunity to either:

• ​Acknowledge the findings of the report (if they were fair) and explain what improvements you plan to make in order to ensure your child WILL be taught at least as regularly and well as. OR
• Otherwise show the Ministry evidence that you are or will be ensuring your children are "taught at least as regularly and well as..."

Keep in mind that the ONLY thing that the Ministry will have received from ERO is your final report, all 1-1/2 pages of it. They see NONE of the evidence collected, internal worksheets, your response etc. This means that it can be very helpful for you to send them these things yourself, where they support your position. This is where the work you have done both before and after the review pays off. 

If you are able to provide information and evidence that satisfies the Ministry that you will teach your children as regularly and well as going forward, in most instances they will allow you to continue home educating, and will send a letter confirming this. 

Otherwise, they will revoke the exemption, and send you a letter informing you of this, and giving you 14 days to enroll your child in school. There is no appeals process for revoked exemptions. Should this happen to you, please do contact me. 

If you or someone you know has had a review in the last 5 years, whether or not the exemptions were revoked, I'd love to hear from you/them - please Contact Me.