The clash of two world views – a constructivist analysis of home educating families’ perceptions of education

Home education is a phenomenon in which children of varying ages are educated at home rather than in a formal school environment. This phenomenon is becoming increasingly widespread throughout the western world. Research in this field is divided between studying pedagogic aspects and holistic aspects of home education. A group of 30 home educating mothers was asked, in semi-structured interviews, to describe the outcome of home education for their children. The findings show the mothers adhere to a social constructivist world view, as shown in the areas they emphasise in the context of the home education outcomes. This article describes the study, presents its findings according to attributes of the constructivist view on educating and learning, and explains the importance of the role these findings have in understanding the home education phenomenon.