Ofsted boss blames parents working from home for school absences
Lockdowns and the ‘phenomenon’ of home working have fuelled absences, Sir Martyn Oliver told Good Morning Britain
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Your support makes all the difference.Parents who have been working from home are keeping their children off school with them, the chief inspector of Ofsted has suggested.
Sir Martyn Oliver, who will launch his first annual report as Ofsted’s chief inspector, said the trend can be seen in lower school attendance on Fridays.
The boss of England’s education watchdog told Good Morning Britain (GMB) on Thursday: “Pre-pandemic, we used to notice as headteachers and teachers that if parents did work from home they would send their children in.
“But now post-pandemic we also see parents are working from home and sometimes they keep their children off with them.
“We notice that because on Fridays attendance tends to go down more than any other day.”
When asked about attendance, Sir Martyn said pandemic lockdowns and the “phenomenon” of home working was having an impact on pupil absences.
The Ofsted chief told GMB: “We went into a lockdown period where children were told not to go into school and were actually told to go onto their screens and use their mobile phones and then suddenly we go back and when it comes back it’s like now come off your screen. The thing we’ve actually just asked you to be on for the best part of two years.”
Sir Martyn will launch the watchdog’s annual report on Thursday at a time of change for the inspectorate.
In September, the Labour Government announced that single-phrase headline Ofsted grades for state schools in England would be scrapped.
Ofsted also announced reforms after its major Big Listen public consultation earlier this year, including plans to introduce a “report card”.
Sir Martyn took over as Ofsted’s chief inspector in January when the watchdog faced criticism after the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Mrs Perry took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from the highest to the lowest rating over safeguarding concerns.
A coroner concluded the Ofsted inspection in November 2022 had contributed to her death.