Section 19 Education Act home tuition, compared with Denmark

15 days. In England, that is the point at which the local authority should step in when a child is too ill to go to school (DfE, December 2023). In Denmark the number is also 15, but they are school days, and the duty sits with the school leader, not the municipality (Danish Ministry of Children and Education, August 2024). This post explains Section 19 Education Act home tuition in plain English, sets it next to the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish rules, and ends with what a parent can do this week.

What Section 19 Education Act home tuition means in plain words

Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 is one sentence with a lot of weight. A local authority in England must arrange suitable, normally full-time, education for a child of compulsory school age who would not otherwise get it because of illness, exclusion or other reasons. It applies whether or not the child is on a school roll.

The Department for Education's statutory guidance, published in December 2023, puts numbers on it. Provision should start as soon as it is clear that a child will be away for 15 days or more, in one stretch or added up across the year, and at the latest by the sixth day of absence. A planned hospital stay should be covered from day one.

Two more lines matter for parents. Part-time provision is only for cases where full time would not be in the child's best interests for health reasons, and it should be reviewed with the aim of adding hours. And if specific medical evidence is not readily available, the authority should look at other evidence rather than wait.

Every local authority should also have a named officer responsible for the education of children with health needs, and parents should know who this is, the guidance says. Ask for the name. It is the first email to write.

Anxiety counts as illness, on paper

We talk about a kid who cannot get through the school gate as a behaviour problem, a parenting problem, a phone problem. Often it is a health problem, and the law in both countries already treats it as one.

A kid who has a panic attack in the car park every morning. A kid in grade 4 who has been home since the autumn holiday, waiting for an assessment. A kid who manages two lessons and then sleeps until evening.

The English guidance tells schools to be aware of their responsibilities when mental health affects attendance, although it never uses the phrase emotionally based school avoidance. The Danish guidance is more direct. It names anxiety, depression and OCD, and it includes long-term worrying absence caused by mental illness. A kid in distress without a diagnosis can also get teaching after a case-by-case assessment.

Not "will not". Cannot. The rules in both countries already accept that, even when the school gate does not.

How Denmark, Norway and Sweden handle the same kid

In Denmark, the school leader at the kid's own school is responsible. According to the ministry's guidance on home teaching during illness (August 2024), the leader must contact the parents at the latest after three weeks, equal to 15 school days, and frequent short absences count once they add up to 15 days in a school year. Teaching can happen at home, in small groups at school or partly at a distance, ideally with the kid's own teachers.

There is no minimum number of hours. The guidance says so in as many words. I think that is the weak point of the Danish model. Fifteen days is a clear trigger, but what happens after it depends on how stretched the school leader is that month.

Norway's rules are spread across more than one law. For a kid in a health institution, Helsedirektoratet's commentary (last updated July 2026) ties the right to teaching to the 2023 Education Act, including the sections on individually adapted teaching (11-4 to 11-6). For a kid who is ill at home, I could not verify a single trigger like 15 days, and I would rather say that than guess.

Sweden's Education Act (chapter 24, section 20) says special teaching must be arranged at home or another suitable place when a kid cannot take part in ordinary school work for a longer period because of illness and is not in hospital. It should, as far as possible, match the teaching the kid misses. "A longer period" is not defined in days.

A rule that says when teaching must start is worth more than a rule that only says it should happen.

Side by side, the four countries look like this:

• England: 15 days or more, provision by day six, normally full time, run by the local authority.
• Denmark: 15 school days, run by the school leader, no minimum hours.
• Norway and Sweden: the duty exists, but no fixed day count that we could verify.

On paper, that makes England the strictest of the four. Whether the paper holds depends on the authority and on how hard a parent has to push.

What a parent can do this week

1. Count the days. Write down every day and half day missed since the start of the school year. About 15 minutes once, then a minute a day. In England 15 days triggers the authority's duty, in Denmark 15 school days triggers the school leader's.
2. Write one email. In England, to the local authority's named officer for children with health needs, with the school in copy. In Denmark, to the school leader. Ask three things: what teaching will be arranged, from which date, and for how many hours a week. About 20 minutes.
3. Send the evidence you already have. A letter from the GP, a note from a psychologist, your own diary of the mornings. Do not wait for a specialist appointment months away before you write.
4. Ask for the class's weekly plan. Teaching at home works better when it follows what the class is doing, so the first week back is not a pile of catch-up. About 5 minutes a week.
5. Agree a review date. Part-time hours should go up as health allows. Put a date in the calendar four to six weeks out and ask again then.

Where GradeAid fits

GradeAid is a Danish platform for teachers. The teacher types in the topic and the level and gets a lesson plan, a worksheet, a quiz, a presentation and screen-free activities in seconds, which you can also differentiate. The material can be printed. It does not replace the teaching a local authority or a school leader must arrange, and it does not know your kid, but it can turn this week's class topic into one short printed task for a kitchen table at 10:00 while the formal plan is sorted out.

If you work with kids who cannot attend school, as a parent, a class teacher or in a municipality, we would like to hear from you. Write to us at founders@gradeaid.ai.