By Dr Rebecca English, QUT School of Education
AS Australian schools return for the year, a growing number of children are not going back.
Around 45,000 young people are now homeschooling, making them the fastest-growing educational cohort in the country. Queensland has seen the most significant increase, with numbers rising by more than 250% in the past five years.
Home education is a legal alternative to traditional schooling, with each state and territory setting its own registration requirements. In Queensland, families must register with the Home Education Unit and submit an annual report demonstrating their child’s educational progress, along with a plan for the following year. Children must be registered between the ages of 6.5 and 17, after which they are removed from the homeschooling register.
Accidental Homeschoolers on the Rise
Many families that homeschool never planned to do so. The largest growth area in homeschooling is among ‘school can’t’ students—children who experience extreme anxiety or trauma responses that make school attendance impossible.
School refusal, or ‘school distress’ as some prefer to call it, has contributed significantly to the rise in homeschooling. These families often argue that the education system has already failed their children, making the idea of enforcing the Australian Curriculum on homeschoolers problematic.
A Queensland parliamentary inquiry into homeschooling received nearly 2,000 submissions, with around 680 from families identifying as ‘school can’t’, school trauma, or school refusal. Many of these submissions shared distressing accounts of children being excluded from classrooms due to learning difficulties, disabilities, or behavioural challenges.
Complex Reasons
Research into homeschooling choices has highlighted bullying as a major factor in families opting out of traditional schooling.
Many parents also cite schools’ inability to accommodate diverse learning needs as a key reason for choosing home education. One parent described her child as “autistic, with sensory processing disorder and severe anxiety, along with a speech impediment. He has trouble processing multiple noises at once, especially while trying to concentrate.” Another stated, “Standardised approaches in traditional schools do not accommodate my child’s diverse needs.”
These stories illustrate the increasing complexity of classroom environments, where teachers must balance competing demands with limited resources.
Is There a Way Back?
For many children, leaving traditional schooling is a last resort, and returning can be difficult. Some only reintegrate through alternative education settings, where flexible approaches cater to individual needs.
Experts and former students suggest that addressing school refusal requires tackling the root causes—ensuring schools are more inclusive and responsive to students’ needs. Findings from the Queensland and New South Wales inquiries support the need for systemic change.
Without a significant shift in classroom culture and resources, homeschooling numbers are likely to continue rising. Teachers need more support to address school refusal before families feel they have no choice but to withdraw their children.
In the meantime, homeschooling families require greater assistance. For many, homeschooling is exhausting and often falls to mothers, who give up full-time work to support their child’s education.
