'School wasn't failing my daughter, it was breaking her. So I turned to homeschooling.'

Picture this: on August 6, nearly 600,000 students stayed home from school. Not because of illness or a natural disaster, but because their teachers had reached breaking point.

For the first time since 2009, Queensland's teachers walked off the job, demanding better pay and working conditions. It's the latest sign that Australia's education sector is in crisis.

Teachers are burning out at unprecedented rates, grappling with staff shortages, challenging classroom behaviour and the relentless pressure of being "always on." But the strain isn't just affecting educators.

On the other side of the school gate, more parents than ever are pulling their children out of traditional schooling altogether, turning to homeschooling instead.

It's a trend that's sparked fierce debate. So we've spoken to two parents who've made the leap, teachers on the front lines, and an independent education expert to understand what's really fuelling the boom in homeschooling.

LISTEN: Teachers strike for better conditions. Post continues below.

The rise of homeschooling.

According to a recent report from the NSW Department of Education, the number of registered homeschooled children in the state rose from 3298 to 12,762 from 2014 to 2024.

Queensland is seeing similar growth. From 2020 to 2024, primary registrations grew by 3,082 (122.2 per cent) and secondary by 3,935 (221.7 per cent). As of August 2024, there were 11,314 students registered for home education in the state.

Once mainly used for children with learning difficulties or accessibility needs, homeschooling is now attracting families across the spectrum — including parents of gifted children.

Richa is one such parent. She started learning about homeschooling when her daughter was around two, after being initially drawn to the idea by her child's separation anxiety.

"On the journey we kind of found that our daughter is also profoundly gifted, and I think it just made sense for us to continue doing what we were doing," she told Mamamia.

"She's been tested, and her IQ is in the 99.9 percentile. Combined with her high emotional needs and high intelligence, she's at two extreme ends of the spectrum, and we feel that the school system wouldn't be able to do justice for her.

"She loves hyper-focusing on things that she enjoys and then breaking that focus at the ring of a bell is very disruptive to children like that. The ability to allow her to pursue interest as deeply as she wants and deep-diving into subject as deeply as she wants is something that homeschooling allows her to do.

Richa said mainstream schooling doesn't suit her gifted child's learning needs. Image: Getty.

"She's using the knowledge from one area and very easily she's able to transport it into another," Richa said. "In a school setting, even if our gifted children are accelerated, it's hard for parents. They have to advocate really hard for the kids to get that extension and to get that support from teachers.

"There's no reason that I have to stop her from allowing to work on Year Seven maths, because she's nine years old; if she's capable, she can do that."

As someone who has homeschooled their child from the start, Richa has observed the increase in homeschooling families firsthand.

"There are a lot more people who have come into the homeschooling family. Many think homeschooling looks like school at home or remote learning during COVID and when it doesn't, they either go back to school or face burnout," she said, explaining she herself has struggled to juggle the role of teacher and mother.

"It's not easy. There's a lot of self-doubt that comes in, especially when you're working with a profoundly gifted child."

For Tessa Contellis she felt there was no other choice but homeschooling. Her 12-year-old daughter Faith is autistic with ADHD and has a cognitive disability.

"Her behavioural issues excluded her from education," Tessa, who works as an NDIS Care Manager, told Mamamia. "We were fighting a losing battle."

Faith started in the Catholic school system, but halfway through Year Four "the wheels started falling off."

"The education system within that area wasn't able to support her how she needed — even though we were providing extra support ourselves," Tessa explained, adding they made the choice to trial the public system as the funding for special needs was greater.

Faith has been home schooled for the past year plus. Image: Supplied.

"We went for an interview with a local primary school, and we gave them all my daughter's reports from her behavioural support practitioner and, you know her doctors and we said, 'this is what you know you would be walking into'. We wanted their eyes to be wide open with this level of supports my daughter would need," Tessa said.

"They really did seem very keen and they promised I could help. They advertised all the resources they had within the school to help her. But within less than a month she was suspended for behavioural problems.

"And it just continued down that road after that. So they would continue saying, 'yes we will help your child' and then they would continue ringing me on a daily basis to pick her up because they were not coping."

Tessa found herself in a situation where she couldn't work and had to essentially be on call.

"We quickly got to the end of our rope with that one too and by the end of last year we've just realised we were fighting a losing battle. So we started to home school her," she said.

Faith has been coping well with the decision.

"She definitely feels more supported just because there is always someone available, and we do have some lovely carers that come and help her twice a week so they'll take her out to social things," Tessa said.

"In that sense, she does get that sort of social aspect of her life, a bit more interaction, but yeah, it's difficult. She's turning 13 and so, even though she's got a disability, she still has the needs of a typical teenager and still wants to be around other kids her age, but it's that's hard for her to do successfully."

One of the things that helped Tessa and her family adjust to the change in lifestyle is the community surrounding her.

"It's been really amazing to me to see my local community reaching out to me as well when they know I'm having a bad day," she said.

One common theme has emerged.

Dr Nikki Brunker is an alternative education academic at the University of Sydney. She's also homeschooled her son herself and spoken to numerous homeschooling parents over the course of her research.

One common theme that's emerged is how vilified home education still is, with parents reporting they often face the stigma of their children not being socialised.

"We've actually got to stop and recognise that the fact that people are moving in high numbers towards home education is a reason for us to open the conversation about education," Dr Brunker said.

She believes the sector's move to standardised, or explicit, teaching models is one factor fuelling the homeschooling increase.

"It's been a progressive shift," she said. "We've been increasingly standardising schooling and having a real focus on performance.

"We need to recognise kids are different. They're all incredibly different."

Amanda* has been a rural teacher for over 10 years. She, too, has noticed the increase in homeschooled students post-pandemic.

"It's interesting, because I know there's definitely a push in metropolitan areas, but there's been a weird influx of growth in homeschooling here in regional rural areas as well," she told Mamamia.

While Amanda understood parents' concerns about explicit schooling, which is currently being rolled out in schools, she noted that teacher shortages and large classroom sizes make it hard to cater to every student's needs.

The number of parents opting to homeschool their children is rapdily rising. Image: Getty

"The roll out of this new way of learning, explicit teaching and explicit instruction, is designed for 80 per cent of the classroom and it's the biggest percentage of any one style of teaching, but it is very clearly aimed at in the middle," she said.

"It's catering to 80 per cent of the students, so there's 10 per cent at the top end — those people that are excelling that aren't being pushed — and 10 per cent at the bottom end that can fall behind. As a teacher, we try really, really hard to cater to that other 20 per cent and try really hard to push those kids forward and help those kids that are struggling.

"The mainstream system does struggle to cater to everyone; neuro-diverse well-being issues. They're getting harder to support in the mainstream system, because there's such a broad range that we have to cater to. That's really hard to do with large classroom sizes."

Amanda has also observed a number of parents use homeschooling as a means to remedy difficult social dynamics, such as friendship fall-outs and bullying.

"Parents are jumping to that homeschooling option in order to support the welfare side of their child's learning," she said. "I then see the transition back really difficult, because they have to transition back socially but also academically. We do things very differently in a mainstream schooling setting versus a homeschool setting.

"If they're in and out of both systems, I find there's a disconnect and it doesn't flow and then kids are actually falling through the gaps there … I think if people get homeschooled they need to commit to homeschooling and do that full speed ahead for a long period of time."

Laura* has worked in education for 16 years, both in the classroom as a teacher and as a learning and support leader.

One teacher we spoke to believes children with diverse needs can be catered for in the classroom. Image: Getty.

She believes children with diverse needs can be catered for in the classroom.

"For a large portion of my career I have supported children with learning difficulties," she told Mamamia. "I would encourage parents to have a conversation with the school about the concerns they are having. Can a solution be reached before homeschooling becomes the option? There may be a misconception that schools offer 'a one size fits all model' for each child in the class but that is not the case.

"Our first teaching standard is 'to know our students' and I believe this to be true. I work in a small school environment and the staff know each one of the students within our school. In a larger school, teachers know their students and will cater best to their learning."

She also said the classroom offers benefits that are hard to replicate in a homeschool setting.

"(At school) children learn cooperation, teamwork, experience how to socialise with others, learn routines and expectations and also independence and self-help skills," she added.

The takeaways.

In a statement issued to Mamamia, the Department of Education said: "The Government is committed to ensuring that every Australian child enjoys the benefits of education, regardless of background, through evidence-based and measurable improvements.

"The Australian Government plays a leadership role in national priorities for school education, with the state and territory education authorities taking responsibility for policy and regulation related to school-aged students engaging in school or a state or territory-approved alternative activity, such as homeschooling."

What emerged from our investigation is that while homeschooling can be a sustainable educational path for some families, it's not without hard work and sacrifice by parents.

One of the reoccurring themes was that success requires substantial support systems, resources, and commitment.

What works for one family may not suit another's circumstances, learning styles, or lifestyle, so the decision to homeschool shouldn't be taken lightly.

Ultimately, the choice between homeschooling and traditional schooling is deeply personal and should be based on a thorough evaluation of a family's unique needs, capabilities, and goals.

*Name changed to protect identity.

Feature image: Getty.