To think the Ofsted inspector who blames WFH parents for low attendance is probably just resentful?

[JandamiHash]

The Chief Inspector of Ofsted is blaming parents who WFH for the demise of school attendance https://www.itv.com/news/2025-02-16/parents-working-from-home-makes-children-feel-school-is-optional-ofsted-head?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0ULgukQnTsabNTlcJRBI4kVQsMYkhCPK_KA4lUAgVkxOocYfo3onmRNHU_aem_nuBknA_QEGgfA93CaTPagg. Apparently none of us want to take our slippers off so we let our kids stay at home while we work.

He makes some REALLY weird points like his overworked dad he didn’t see much as his inspiration to go to school. And also MPs making sure they spend weekends with their families is a bad work ethic.

I know MN is a good example of whenever WFH threads are brought up, non-WFHers come on dripping with resentment over WFH and implying WFHers don’t really work. AIBU to think this man - who has somehow been knighted - is basically doing that? I’m not sure how much inspecting he does now, but Ofsted inspectors aren’t any superior or harder working just because they spend a few days working away from home at a time (something BTW I’m expected to do, at least 1 overnight a month).

Also as someone from a household where 2 of us WFH, I can’t think of anything worse than having kids flapping around us while we try and work. I’m FT, and this week I’m off Weds-Fri, as is DH. my DD11 will be at home tomorrow with strict instructions to keep away unless there’s a serious emergency (she’s secondary and old enough to take care of herself) and at a friend’s on Tuesday. My DS is 8 and is going into a holiday club tomorrow and Tuesday as his neediness is unbearable. Both have somewhere between 97 and 99% attendance so far this academic year.

YABU - “He’s got a point”
YANBU - “He’s wrong/resentful”

This. It's perfectly possible to work from home and still be strict on valuing education and making sure your children go in to school each day.

These comments mostly:

I think developing good social habits of getting up in the morning, putting your shoes on instead of your slippers,

I look at Westminster (where Ofsted is based) and I see the place clearing out on a Thursday night very often. Again, is there something in that?

Odd comments for a senior figure to make

I think it's more likely to be because these kids 'worked from home' themselves for the best part of 2 years, so they don't see why it's not okay to do that now. And in some cases, I agree with them. Turning up to an old-fashioned didactic classroom as per the last few hundreds of years or more may not necessarily be best for everyone.

I work from home twice a week and a main purpose of this is so I bring my kids to school!

Whether or not the comments are odd (and I don’t particularly think they are), I really can’t see why you’d call them resentful

I do think the pandemic changed things. Nobody asked for children to be off school for six months and then on and off for another year, it was forced on us all and we had to middle through as best we could. Except for a few kids, they all got a substandard education during lockdown.

But schools, Ofsted and leaders expected children, some very small, to snap back to the mindset, attitude and priorities they had 18 months earlier. And then act all confused when not every child just slipped back into normal schooling.

He's basically saying..
"When I were a lad, me dad got up half an hour before he went to bed. He made us lick road clean before putting our cardboard shoes on"

This was back in the 70s and 80s as the man is 52.

Reacting to the national absence stat going up without looking into why, is dim.

Saying people just want to stay at home and not put their shoes on, labels parents as lazy.
It could be that the awareness of viruses is higher now and parents worry more about long term exposure to chest infections and the like. It could be that they don't want their I'll child to spread it to their classmates.. classes are a lot bigger now than they were, its not just 1 kid infecting 20.. it's 1 kid infecting 30 or more.
It could be that parents have more knowledge of such things these days than back in the 70s
It could be that some kids have mental problems, that they hate school and they hate teachers and would happily murder them... So the parents keep them off hoping to get mental health support, but that never comes due to cuts..

It could be any one of a thousand and 17 reasons..

But no.. old man blames it on things not being how it used to be...

Because I’m assuming the Sunday Times article has some smoking gun that ITV didn’t cover?

I can’t think of anything worse than having kids flapping around us while we try and work.

You are one of those who have a plan in place and make it work between you and your DH.

There are some who wfh with no childcare in place.

There have been numerous threads of people wfh with toddlers and babies to look after.

Some who brag about not doing much, logging on and snoozing through meetings, doing the school runs, chores, etc whilst pretending to be working.

Not all productivity is/can be tracked and some people do take liberties.

So although it maybe jealousy from some,
it's not surprising that companies are calling people back in.

If wfh is more productive, companies would stick with it.

Unfortunately it's the few lazy ones who spoil it for everyone.

My friend keeps her children home often on her WFH day, she finds it hard to say no when they are tired, although school have noticed a pattern in their days off.

I agree with you - I feel like schools are being pressured to see numbers not humans.

Children with lower attendance tend to have parents who wfh or do not work. I would say he was stating facts OP.

You know that not everyone who works outside the home is a seething mass of resentment at those who wfh don’t you? I couldn’t do it now for all the tea in China, and I speak as someone who did it for 20 years. I would find it unremittingly depressing do y’know, you do you and don’t assume everyone is the same as you.

But why don’t you still give them calpol and send them in? If you managed that before but now let them stay off then you’re using your WFH to enable your kids to be off school. If they’re too ill then of course they should be off but you’ve stated that you would have sent them in previously but now don’t as you WFH. Hence, people think that that an increase in WFH has led to an increase in school absence, you’ve just proved the link in your case.

Does the Sunday times article having anything compelling such as statistics to back this up?

What do they say?

No just seeking your opinion on why this man is right

Ah I didn’t realise there was another thread, I did try and check!

There must be three threads a day on mn full of WFH-ers frantically telling us how much more productive they are at home 🤔

Tbh they are prob right. My dd if she says she is unwell I am more receptive to her having a day of than I used to be when I went to the office. Before they went to school even when they were poorly

I have posted an article and I’m still waiting to hear how ITV took his comments out of context

hats his evidence base?

And TBH it’s still just his opinion. Not all opinions are equally valid.

It was SO much easier for children back in the day when WFH wasn't a thing, as their parents' thinly veiled contempt for them was masked by said caregivers fucking off to the office.

Agreed.

Baseless speculation from a so-called senior figure extrapolating from anecdote in a totally unevidenced way.

Unbecoming and woefully uneducated stance from a senior figure in Ofsted.

It follows from how the box-ticking Osted extrapolates a school's performance from arbitrary pieces of evidence whilst wilfully turning a blind eye to the full picture.

I don't know what happens now but 30 years ago Ofsted inspectors worked from home when not actually on an inspection, long before Wfh was common. We had one in the family (long since retired).

They've also just latched on to this to make it actively look like they're doing something to improve educational standards for children but nothing is being done. Schools are underfunded and there's a lack of teachers.