The list is moderated by four moderators on behalf of the forum members in accordance with the following principles:

========== LIST RULES ==========

PURPOSE: The HE consultation UK Yahoo group is an open forum for UK home educators and home education organisations to propose and discuss responses to consultations on home education, particularly DfES and devolved government policy consultations.

MEMBERSHIP: The list is open to the whole UK home education community and is not restricted to any specific home education group or organisation. The list is open to UK home educating parents, or other persons with a legitimate interest in home education policy, such as adults who were home educated, or other family members. The views of home educated children are particularly welcomed.

EXCLUSIONS FROM MEMBERSHIP: The list is NOT open to government and local authority officials, nor the press, researchers, teachers, lawyers, or others curious about our educational approach (except where such persons are eligible as above, e.g. home educating parents). New members may be asked in their application to confirm their legitimate interest before being approved to join the list.

OFF TOPIC POSTS: This is a business list, and posts should be kept on topic to the list’s purpose. Please keep general home education discussion and support on the many other excellent lists which exist for that purpose. Spam is not welcome.

CONSIDERATION FOR OTHER MEMBERS: Discussion of home education policy will often touch on strongly held views. Everyone is free to express their feelings, and to critique the views of others, but please avoid personal attacks or dumping your feelings on someone else. Posts which are abusive, intolerant or inflammatory are not acceptable. To avoid discussions being sidetracked, moderators will intervene actively if necessary.

MODERATOR INTERVENTION: Where posts break the list rules, moderators may warn a list member, and if necessary place them on moderation – which means that further posts will be individually checked before being passed to the list. The moderators reserve the right by collective decision to exclude list members who do not co-operate with the list rules.

LIST PRIVACY: Please respect privacy. Posts or information from this list should not be repeated elsewhere without the writer’s specific permission, other than for consultation responses as described below. Nor should such information be copied to the list from elsewhere. Despite the membership rules, the moderators cannot guarantee the bona fide of list members, and members should remember not to treat the list as a private forum.

USE OF POSTS IN CONSULTATION RESPONSES: In order to use the views expressed here in consultation responses, response co- ordinators need to be able to quote from messages posted to the list. It is impractical for response co-ordinators to seek approval for the use of text from every contributor, so in posting comments here, list members are giving permission for their comments to be incorporated into consultation responses which may be passed to the government or other third parties, and which may be displayed on the internet or in other public places. Where possible a final proposed consultation response should be posted to the list, to allow contributors to request changes to quoted text if their opinions have altered or the text does not fully represent their point.

ANONYMITY IN QUOTED TEXT: It is the consultation response co-ordinator’s responsibility to ensure that quoted text protects the anonymity of the writer, by changing names and identifying details if necessary, unless the writer specifically waives this requirement. Special care should be taken to ensure Email and other addresses are not quoted, to protect privacy and the identity of families not known to their LEAs.

NETIQUETTE: Trimming: To keep list users download and reading times down, please remember to trim unnecessary text from replies. This means deleting irrelevant previous message text when replying, and removing previous Yahoo footer messages. Subject lines: When the subject content of a thread changes, please help people follow the topics they wish to, by changing the subject line to a new subject.

CONSENSUS CULTURE: The list has been created, following previous broad based HE consultations, as a place where the views of home educators can be canvassed and consultation responses can be developed with the greatest possible consensus. Sometimes views appear opposed and unlikely to form into a single consensus, but consensus can often be reached by examining the positions and developing an alternative which improves on both. Members can contribute greatly to developing consensus text, and co-ordinators of consultation responses should look for consensus solutions when drawing together draft consultation responses. Where a consultation period must end before this process has had time to complete, consideration should be given to mentioning differing views in the consultation response.

COMPLAINTS: Complaints relating to the list should be sent to the list owner, and will be decided by the moderators’ collective decision.