The school will expand from 66 to 600 places. Credit:Louise Kennerley Families will lose their registration if they do not meet the new criteria. Education Minister James Merlino said the changes would still give families the flexibility they needed. "I respect the homeschooling community and want to establish workable solutions to their concerns," he said. "We're ensuring children across Victoria are getting the best education, wherever they go to school."

The changes are part of a broader regulatory revamp expected to be tabled in Parliament in coming weeks. The current regulations will automatically end this year. Home Education Network co-ordinator Susan Wight accused the government of being hostile towards homeschoolers, and described the reforms as insulting. She said there was a lack of consultation on the changes, and no transparency on the criteria the Registration and Qualifications Agency would use to evaluate homeschoolers. "It's unjustified, there's no evidence of a problem. Yet they want to review us routinely, despite many of our kids coming out of schools where they were not being taught or kept safe." She said 535 homeschooler submissions on the department's draft reform proposal were ignored.

There are 3006 homeschooling families in Victoria, accounting for 4745 students. This is a jump from 2071 families and 2582 students in 2014. Opposition education spokesman Nick Wakeling said Premier Daniel Andrews was treating homeschooling families with contempt. "I think this is an important sector and the government needs to engage with parents, which is exactly what they haven't done." He also criticised the handling of the consultation process, after the state Education Department published confidential information that identified bullying victims and children who self-harmed, and then later re-published the documents, but deleted crucial information including de-identified sex abuse allegations, in a move described by parents as a whitewash. Monash University senior lecturer in curriculum and pedagogy David Zyngier, who has called for tougher regulation of homeschooling, said the changes were sensible.

"All schools are highly regulated, as are teachers, who are also accredited … therefore, if someone is going to be homeschooled, their child's education also needs to be regulated and accredited." Homeschooling families in most states already face regular home visits in order to maintain or renew their registration. Shae Reynolds teaches her three children, Tannah, 12, Willow, 9 and Harper, 8, at home. The children have never attended school. Ms Reynolds said the regulatory changes were invasive and would deter families from teaching their children at home. She was also concerned that parents taking children out of the school system would now have to wait one month before registering, instead of two weeks.

"This is for people who are experiencing bullying and major problems assimilating at school. To have a regulations board telling you what you can and can't do is overstepping the boundaries."