Forcing parents who homeschool their children to sign up to a mandatory register risks treating them as if they were sex offenders, leading academics have warned. Last month Education Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed he is ‘absolutely committed’ to creating a register of home educated children, with its introduction ‘imminent’. It follows an Education Committee Inquiry which examined the need for ‘accountability’ and ‘monitoring’ of families who opt out of the school system. But Dr Harriet Pattison, a home education specialist and Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood at Liverpool Hope University, told FEMAIL a register is likely to stigmatise children and parents and could even end up criminalising those who fail…