Home Education in Ireland Is Growing: What the Latest Tusla Figures Show

Tusla's latest AEARS newsletter puts 2,674 children on the Section 14 home education register, with 988 applications and 900 assessments completed in the most recent quarter. Tusla describes this as part of an increasing trend, one it links to more families whose child has a special educational need.

Here's what the figures actually say, and what they mean if you're on the register or thinking about applying.

How many children are home educated in Ireland?

The Alternative Education Assessment and Registration Service (AEARS) is the Tusla team that registers and assesses children being educated outside recognised schools under Section 14 of the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000. Its Summer 2026 newsletter reports these figures for the most recent quarter:

• 2,674 children on the Section 14 Register
• 479 of those registered with a special educational need
• 988 applications for home education received
• 900 assessments completed
• 345 children on the waiting list for an assessment

These come from Tusla's own Quality and Regulation Directorate, the internal team that tracks activity across AEARS and similar services. They're a single quarter's snapshot, not a running total for the year.

Is home education actually increasing in Ireland?

Yes, according to Tusla itself. The newsletter states that the data shows "an increasing trend within home education based on the number of registrations, the number of children with special educational needs and the number of applications received in 2025."

Tusla hasn't published the prior quarters alongside this one, so there's no clean year-on-year percentage to quote here. What there is: Tusla's own characterisation of the direction, backed by three figures moving the same way. More children registering, more of them with an identified special educational need, and more applications coming in.

How many home-educated children have special educational needs?

479 of the 2,674 children on the register, about one in five, are registered with a special educational need. That's not a small subgroup.

It matches what most neurodivergent home-educating families already know from the inside. A lot of home education in Ireland exists because school did not work for a particular child, not because a family rejected school on principle.

My own kids are part of that number. We didn't come to home education looking for an alternative lifestyle. We came to it because mainstream school could not meet what our autistic, PDA and gifted kids needed, and staying meant watching them struggle for no gain.

What's the wait like for a Tusla assessment right now?

345 children were waiting for an assessment against 900 completed in the same quarter. That's not a published wait-time figure. Tusla doesn't state how many weeks or months a family should expect to wait.

What it tells a family applying now is that the queue is real. It's worth applying and gathering evidence early rather than waiting until a review date feels close. If you have an assessment coming up, how to prepare for a Tusla home education assessment in one week covers the practical side.

What else is changing at AEARS?

Two smaller developments in the same newsletter are worth knowing about if you're on the register or applying.

A new Assessment of Need referral form

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) now has a referral form built specifically for home-educating families applying for an Assessment of Need through the HSE. An AEARS assessor completes it with you, usually during your existing assessment, and it includes space to note any education resources that could support your child.

Health screening for home-educated children

Children in recognised schools get routine access to HSE hearing, vision, and dental screening information. Home-educated children currently don't get this automatically. Tusla says it's working with the HSE's Public Health Department to close that gap, and has added a link to the HSE's School Health Programme page in the meantime. Contact your local health office directly if you don't want to wait for that to roll out.

What this means if you're home educating in Ireland

None of this changes what an assessor is looking for. What Tusla actually wants in a home education assessment still holds: evidence of a certain minimum education, not a school-shaped one.

What it does confirm is that home education in Ireland, especially for neurodivergent kids, isn't a fringe choice. It's a growing, recognised part of how children in Ireland get educated, and Tusla's own numbers say so.

If you're logging real moments of learning for your own records or your next Tusla assessment, Life on Auto is in development to make exactly that easier. You can join the early list at lifeonauto.app.