Muslims, home education and risk in British society

The number of families who choose to home educate has significantly increased in the last decade (Winstanley, 2013). This article explores the experiences of British Muslims who home educate using data from a larger study exploring the views of a diverse range of families. Drawing on the work of Beck (1992) we discuss how ‘risk’ is understood in relation to Muslim home educators. For these families decisions to home educate were often made in response to identifying risks associated with their children attending school. At the same time OFSTED (2016) has identified ‘risks’ of radicalisation associated with the ‘Trojan Horse’ affair which they linked specifically to Muslim families’ who home educate. We argue that Muslim families are both marginalised by the perception of ‘risk’ associated with radicalisation and also by their consequent decisions to home educate.