Europe is the region where the phrase "is homeschooling legal?" is least useful, because the answer changes completely across a two-hour drive. Germany prohibits it. The United Kingdom permits it with no registration requirement at all. Between those two extremes sit permission tiers, notification tiers, court-tested positions and a handful of genuine grey areas. This guide sets out the tiers properly and links to all thirty-four European countries we teach.
One distinction to get right before you read further
"Homeschooling" and "online schooling" are not the same thing in law, and in several countries they are treated very differently. A child enrolled at a registered school who takes additional subjects online is usually in a different legal position from a child being educated at home under a parental arrangement — different registration requirements, different reporting, sometimes a different authority entirely. Most of what Smartious does is the first of those: live subject teaching alongside a school a child already attends. Where a country page describes a home-education framework, that is the second. Confirm which applies to your own child with the authority where you legally reside, because the answer turns on residence rather than nationality or where a provider is based.
Four tiers, and why the label matters
European home-education law sorts into four groups and confusing them causes real harm. The first is prohibition, where attendance at a school is legally required and exemptions are narrow and medical — Germany is the best-known example. The second is a permission tier, where home education is lawful but requires official approval, often renewed annually and often conditional on following the national curriculum: Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Austria sit here in different forms. The third is a notification tier, where a family informs the authority and may then proceed. The fourth is genuine freedom, where no registration or notification is required at all — the United Kingdom being the clearest case in Europe. A family moving from a fourth-tier country to a first-tier one without checking is the single most common and most costly mistake we see.
The countries where the answer is genuinely disputed
Two European markets in our coverage do not fit any tier cleanly, and we decline to force them. Cyprus produces at least three substantially different published answers — one restricting home education to students with special educational needs, disabilities or serious health problems with Ministry-approved teachers; one describing it as legal but stringently regulated by permission; and one describing it as not formally recognised at all, with no approval process. At least one comparative source simply lists Cyprus among countries that prohibit it. We set out all of them and send families to the Ministry, because a family planning a school year on the wrong reading loses far more than a subscription.
What an online school can honestly add in a well-served region
Europe has the deepest school provision of any region we cover, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we add here is narrower than in Africa or Asia and worth stating precisely. First, the subject sets a single timetable cannot sustain — Further Mathematics or a third science for four pupils is unviable at one school and routine in a live group drawn across countries. Second, places, in markets where mid-year arrivals find every preferred school full. Third, reach into the regions outside capitals where international provision thins sharply, which is true in Poland, Romania, Portugal, Greece and across the Balkans. And fourth, fees, in markets where international schooling is priced for corporate packages rather than local salaries.
The Balkans, where ten countries give ten different answers
Nowhere illustrates the point better. Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania sit within a few hundred kilometres of each other and no two share a framework. Bosnia and Herzegovina administers education through multiple authorities within one country, so the operative rules depend on where a family lives rather than on nationality. Several of these countries are also markets where international provision is concentrated in one city and effectively absent everywhere else, which makes them among the strongest cases for live delivery in Europe.
Timetabling, which is straightforward across Europe
Smartious runs two teaching teams in different time zones, so live classes are available around the clock rather than inside a single window — and Europe is among the easiest regions to serve because most of it already sits within one to two hours of our original teaching base. In practice that means a European family chooses the slot that suits their week rather than accepting the only one on offer: after-school, early evening, or a mid-morning block for students on a permitted home-education arrangement. Cyprus is level with our base in summer and an hour off in winter, and the UK, Ireland and Iberia sit at the wider end without difficulty. Specific weekly slots are confirmed with each family at enrolment.
University routes, which is where Europe rewards planning
UCAS reads Cambridge A-Levels natively, which matters for a great many European families whose children apply to British universities. EU institutions read A-Levels and the IB Diploma through established equivalence routes they use constantly, and the Netherlands, Ireland and increasingly Germany and the Nordics teach substantial English-medium degree programmes that admit international qualifications directly. The practical advice is the same everywhere: choose the A-Level set with the destination in mind rather than the school, and start that conversation two years before the application rather than during it.
Every European country we teach
Thirty-four countries, each with a dedicated hub covering the legal tier that applies, the cities we reach, examination access and the local school market. The note against each is what most distinguishes it.
No registration requirement — among the freest frameworks in Europe. UCAS reads A-Levels natively.
A constitutional right to educate at home, with assessment by the relevant authority.
School attendance legally required. We teach alongside a German school enrolment only.
An authorisation-based framework tightened in recent years.
Narrow exemption grounds, with a very strong English-medium university sector.
Three language communities, three sets of rules within one country.
A trilingual system and a heavily international professional population.
Cantonal rules — the framework depends entirely on which canton you live in.
A permission tier with annual external examination requirements.
Parental declaration with annual assessment — more permissive than most expect.
A contested position with court rulings that families should read carefully.
A recognised route with equivalence examinations, plus a large relocated community.
Athens and Thessaloniki, with limited provision across the islands.
Three different published answers on home education. We set out all of them.
A well-established permitted route with school-attached registration.
A recognised individual-education framework with periodic assessment.
A permission tier with conditions attached to the qualifications of the teaching adult.
A permission tier, with framework changes worth confirming before you plan.
Bucharest, Cluj and Timișoara, with provision thin outside the main cities.
A restrictive framework where our teaching runs alongside a school enrolment.
Zagreb, Split and the coast, with a compact international sector.
A notification-based route with examination requirements.
Belgrade and Novi Sad, with provision concentrated in the capital.
Multiple education authorities within one country — your address decides which applies.
Podgorica and the Tivat yachting coast, with a mobile international community.
Skopje and a small but growing international sector.
Tirana and the coast, with a fast-changing private school market.
Pristina and a young, internationally connected population.
A long-standing external and family-form education framework in national law.
A constitutional tradition permitting education outside school, with supervision.
Exceptional circumstances only — among the most restrictive in the Nordics.
Home education permitted with municipal supervision.
Compulsory education rather than compulsory schooling — a genuine distinction.
Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, spanning Europe and Asia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is homeschooling legal in Europe?+
There is no single European answer, and treating it as one causes real harm. Germany requires school attendance; the United Kingdom requires no registration at all; and between them sit permission tiers, notification tiers and genuine grey areas. Each of our country pages states which tier applies and cites the framework rather than summarising it away.
We are moving from the UK to Germany — does our arrangement continue?+
The qualification does; the legal arrangement does not. Education law follows residence, so a family moving into a prohibition-tier country is subject to that country’s rules from the point of residence. This is the single most common and most costly mistake we see in Europe, and it is worth taking advice before the move rather than after.
Europe has excellent schools — what would we gain?+
Usually one specific thing: a subject set your timetable cannot staff for four pupils. Beyond that, a place if you arrive mid-year to a full school, reach if you live outside a capital, and fees. If your school covers what your child needs, we will tell you so.
Will UK universities accept A-Levels sat elsewhere in Europe?+
Yes, without conversion. UCAS reads Cambridge A-Levels natively wherever they are sat. EU institutions read A-Levels and the IB through established equivalence routes they use every year.
ONLINE-SCHOOL
ONLINE-SCHOOL
ONLINE-SCHOOL