France: Parliamentary Report Urges Return to Freedom of Homeschooling

The 2021 Republican Principles Respect Act previously transformed home education from a recognized freedom into a restricted practice requiring prior administrative approval, sparking a dramatic decline in participating families.

The policy shift has triggered a sharp contraction in home education enrollment across the country, according to findings from eclj.org and nosparlementaires.fr. Data cited in the parliamentary review show that the number of children educated in family settings plummeted by more than 60 percent, dropping from 72,000 students prior to the 2021 reform down to 28,000 for the current school year.

Parliamentary Review Examines the 2021 Reform Impact

The information mission report, published on October 7, 2026, was authored by rapporteurs Josiane Corneloup and Vincent Trébuchet. The parliamentary document argues that the 2021 legislation was designed primarily to compel general school attendance rather than to combat religious separatism, which had served as the original justification for the tighter rules. According to nosparlementaires.fr, the report notes that despite official arguments linking home education restrictions to Islamist radicalization, state services produced no objective data documenting any verifiable threat within home-schooling communities.

The rapporteurs’ evaluation highlights that the authorization mechanism created widespread administrative friction, financial costs, and substantial litigation without delivering measurable academic gains for students or parents.

The report, spanning over 250 pages, characterizes the current authorization system as illegible. Under the existing framework, the administration holds sole discretion to grant or deny requests without clear transparency, leading to inconsistent authorization rates across different academies. Consequently, the rapporteurs have proposed a return to a reinforced declaration regime, which they describe as simpler and more functional.

Enrollment Drop Affects Youngest Children Most

Statistical breakdowns in the parliamentary review reveal that the contraction heavily impacted early childhood education. nosparlementaires.fr reported that enrollment among children aged three to five fell from 16,288 during the 2021-2022 academic year to 3,751 by the 2024-2025 term.

The decline follows a period of significant growth. While home education remained marginal—in 2024-2025, it accounted for only 0.29 percent of the 11.8 million children subject to mandatory schooling—it had risen from 13,547 children in 2007-2008 to nearly 36,000 in 2018-2019. This upward trend accelerated following the 2019 lowering of the compulsory instruction age to three and the subsequent COVID-19 crisis. The peak of 72,369 students recorded in 2021-2022 was also inflated by families seeking to utilize transitionary rights for existing pupils.

Current administrative data indicates that for the 2025-2026 school year, there were 28,810 provisional authorizations granted, with 20.6 percent of requests being refused after initial appeals. The European Centre for Law and Justice stated its expectation that lawmakers will act to restore the simplified declaration regime to protect the fundamental rights of families and children across France.