November 4, 2026

My name is Alex, and I’m a Community Co-Researcher. I work as part of Cumbria CVS and the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) in Cumberland. I am developing a research project which will explore how families of children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in Cumberland experience home education, and what this means for support and local service provision. Information on how you can give feedback about the plan so far will be shared at the end of this post.

I have always cared strongly about a lot of things, but had never quite known how to turn that into something useful. Becoming a Community Co-Researcher has given me the skills, support and focus I needed to channel that energy into something productive.

The panel of Community Co-Researchers is made up of people from all across Cumberland, who have been given the training to each carry out a research project. The idea behind this is that our own life experiences will lead to insights that might be missed by somebody approaching Cumberland from the outside. In other words, we will know the issues that affect local people, because we are local people.

My own research project is a good example of how this works in practice. I was home educated from the age of 12 after having serious problems at school. I was later diagnosed as having SEND. When I went to University, I became aware of how many opportunities I had missed out on due to being home educated. I also noticed I had developed useful skills and relationships that my peers hadn’t had the chance to. Now I would like to find out more about the experiences of families like mine.

Recent years have seen rising numbers of young people who require SEND support within education and who have Education Health and Care Plans. There is plenty of information about what this means in a school environment – but guidance, statistics and reports almost always neglect to mention those who are home educated, despite the fact that rates of Elective Home Education are increasing too.

In a lot of ways, I think my personal connection to the subject I’m researching is a strength. If my life had gone differently, I might never have thought to be curious about this topic.  I know why my project matters and what it could achieve. I care about my research and the people it relates to. However, I have to think carefully about how my own experience influences my project. I have found balancing this really interesting.

I’m trying to treat my own experience of home education as a starting point, and allow the rest of the research process to be guided by the local community. This is an important part of the ‘co-research’ approach, which places value on the knowledge, experiences and perspectives of the people who research relates to. I hope my project creates an opportunity for families who are home educating children with SEND to have their experiences heard.

If you are interested in learning more or would like to give feedback on my plans so far, you can do so at at https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/vRkg87VqB3. Every response helps, and all feedback questions are optional. This initial feedback survey will be live until the 30th of November. The results of this survey – and how they influence the next stage of planning – will be shared in a future blog post.

Thank you for reading!

 

You can view Alex’s Research Proposal here: How families of children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in Cumberland experience home education, and the implications for support and local service provision.

 

Community Co-Researchers (CCRs) are hosted by Cumbria CVS and work as part of Cumberland Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) to design and deliver research focused on tackling health inequalities in Cumberland. Cumberland HDRC is part of the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) and hosted by Cumberland Council.

NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations enable local authorities to become more research-active, embedding a culture of evidence-based decision making. The NIHR has awarded £150 million to 30 HDRCs across the UK, to provide the capacity and capability for local authorities to undertake public health research to address the wider determinants of health and health inequalities.