From the Margins to the Middle: Co-creating space for Home Educators to explore Religion and Worldviews

The Religion and Worldviews Home Educators’ Fund was set up by Culham St Gabriel’s, St Peter’s Saltley Trust and All Saints Educational Trust with the aim of supporting home educating families, who are often unable to access traditional funding schemes for RE. The fund was co-designed by a group of home educating families, with support from TSIP, The Social Innovation Partnership. The fund is now in its second year and decisions on grant applications are made by a ‘community panel’ of home educators.

Alice Khimasia is one of the parents that has been involved since the beginning of the fund’s co-design process and in this blog she reflects on her experience. The trusts are currently offering more grants in this area. You can also read about some of the other Home Education projects that were awarded funds.

I have spent many years immersed in home education, but I once trained as a Religious Education (RE) teacher and have always believed in the potential of quality RE, and the importance of educators who hold space for big questions about meaning, belief, identity, community and belonging, often in departments with limited time, tight frameworks, and ever-present pressures. It is no small task, and it matters deeply. So, when I was invited to help co-create a fund to support home educators’ learning about religions and worldviews, I saw an exciting opportunity to extend the reach of this important work into a different and often overlooked part of the educational landscape. Home educators in the UK are part of a growing community which receives no funding or systemic support. Despite the challenges, there is a great deal of creative, rigorous, values-led learning taking place outside traditional classrooms, often learner-centred, innovative and dynamic. This fund was an opportunity to recognise and support that in a meaningful and collaborative way.

Co-creation in Education: Building the fund with home educating families

My home educated son and I joined a working group including other home educators and staff from the Social Innovation Partnership (TSIP) helping shape the fund’s aims, values, and processes. The project was grounded in co-creation, not consultation. We weren’t just giving feedback, but were invited to the table from the start. For those of us used to working on the fringes of formal education, it was powerful to be heard and respected, to shape something from the ground up, to be recognised and paid fairly for our expertise. The fund supports home-educating families and groups to explore different religions and worldviews in ways that are relevant, creative, collaborative and impactful. Like many RE teachers, those of us engaged in this project are committed to fostering curiosity, empathy and respectful dialogue in the next generation, and want to inspire encounters that open people to difference and help us all live well together.

When I joined the panel reviewing grant applications for our pilot year, I was inspired by the creativity and thoughtfulness of the submissions. The home education community is incredibly diverse, and so are the approaches to RE. Some families use structured curricula, others draw on storytelling, visits to places of interest, project-based learning, or philosophical discussion. Much is conversational, interest-led, emergent and reflective, often deeply rooted in lived experience. The flexibility of home education is one of its strengths, and applications reflected that with submissions from groups learning together, families engaged in collaborative projects, and parents of children with special educational needs.

Voices from the community: Reflections from grant recipients

One grantee reflected:

“One of the most rewarding things was seeing how open and thoughtful the children became when given space to explore big ideas. They were genuinely curious and respectful, and it was clear they were learning not just about different beliefs, but about empathy and understanding too.”

Perhaps most powerfully, one child said:

“I didn’t know that people could believe different things and still be kind to each other. I liked learning how other people see the world.”

Reading reflections like these was moving and affirmed the value of the work. We hope the fund ensures that wherever children are learning, in classrooms, community centres, in libraries, or at kitchen tables, they have access to high-quality, thoughtful, inclusive education about religions and worldviews, recognising that quality RE can happen both inside and outside school walls, and that we share a common goal, to raise compassionate, empathic citizens.

The Future of RE in Home Education: Dialogue, Diversity, and Connection

Some of my most memorable experiences with my own sons involved visiting places of worship and speaking with people from different communities. These encounters brought beliefs and practices to life and sparked genuine curiosity and respect. I hope the fund continues to grow, not just by offering grants, but in the connections it fosters. At the heart of RE is dialogue, and that includes us all listening well, being open to difference, and co-creating learning opportunities together.