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”

What does it say that’s substantially different from the ITV article?

You said above that you had read it. You haven’t then?
I think pretty much everything said by a representative of OFSTED will be bollocks and the whole organisation should be dismantled forthwith, but have you or haven’t you read it all? And what exactly is he wrong about here?

Someone should send him back to school to teach him that correlation is not the same as causation.

Are we reading the same article?!

ok so given it’s your thread, how about you tell us what about the article pissed you off now that you’ve seen the cut and paste job was within a broader context where he identities other serious contributing factors including serious mental health challenges endured by some of our children, and links his comment around the change in work patterns with stats

Over and out
should have done that when I realised the op was the type to get frothing at the mouth on the basis of an abstract and actually start a thread about it WItHOUT reading said article 😆

Ah @Ankhmo not all heroes wear capes!

So having read this - it hadn’t changed my mind.

Also why have people said there’s different statistics in this article than in the ITV article? There isn’t. And it most certainly hasn’t been taken out of context - the only difference is in the Times article he talks about the new traffic light report card, which ITV didn’t report in. The part about blaming WFH parents is lifted basically word for word.

Its still a man who seems to like controversy casting illogical and baseless theories around and seems really annoyed that people WFH in the first place.

Not to mention the fact that a couple of generations ago most children had a SAHM (not saying that's a good thing, but it blows his argument out of the water).

Probably right with some, wrong with others.

If I were WFH the last thing I’d want round would be my children! You’d get so little done, interruptions etc.

As a wild generalisation those pupils with the best attendance - teachers’s children. It’s so hard to get time off as a teacher and then catch up later.

Some OFSED inspectors have said some daft stuff to me when inspecting schools I was in. Sometimes they are a little detached from reality.

I have now. It hasn’t changed my mind. largely because it’s the same text and isn’t backed up by ANY sort of data

I’m not at all resentful, but I do think the Ofsted man is. He provides no basis for his views, it’s something he’s just thrown out there for an apparent reason. He also doesn’t give any solutions as to what WFH SHOULD do. Just makes assumptions based on footwear

Well I WFH and never keep my children off unless they are ill. Dropping them off at school in the morning is something I look forward to. Anyway, the inspector shouldn’t worry too much about people wfh because I’m pretty sure Reform will be getting in next time and will ban wfh just like Trump has.

His argument is nonsense.

Bingo.

Unless there is hard data around parents who now WFH whose children have newly decreased attendance rates, it’s just a stab in the dark.

When actually there is data around the causes of children who are persistently absent. Except that data doesn’t really get to blame parents so perhaps hasn’t suited Martin’s new found role of Controversial Statement Maker

My point was his deflection by creating interest around well trodden views ( cut teachers’ holidays, raise links with WFH) - not that there is another thread.

There isn't another thread about this, the other thread is about Sir Martyn suggesting that teachers need to teach for more than 190 days out of 365. Again, deflecting away from increasing criticism of OFSTED given the consultation on the proposed framework.

Perhaps you work for MO and OFSTED media @JandamiHash 😂. Promoting MO’s batshit deflections?

Agree 💯

I’d find it so stressful having to look after a sick child when working. Then again our rule is you have to be dead or have a limb falling off to stay off 🤣 my DS’s absence rate is entirely down to being sent home from school (every instance of which he’s been fine)

I read the guardian article on this earlier. While I agree that attendance is bad and the data around days etc and a culture shift, I don't believe parents would want their kids around while WFH 😂 if anything, they would find them distracting.

Just to quote

**Oliver said several other factors were also affecting attendance, including poor mental health, such as anxiety and depression,and a lack of funding for services such as school nurses and child psychologists, as well as difficulties luring children away from their screens.

Official figures show a fifth of primary school children are now persistently absent, missing at least one day a fortnight
GETTY IMAGES
He said: “In lockdown we said to children, ‘Stay at home to be educated, go online’. Then we said, ‘Come in for your education, don’t go online, don’t go on your phone’. You can understand that was quite confusing for children going through their formative years. Nurseries, schools, colleges have worked really hard to get over that and we are seeing great successes but there’s more than can be done.”
**

I have WFH for many years, and my two kids have really great attendance records. I couldn't have them at home with me as it would impact on my productivity

They still do IME.

Pattern is usually, prep and phone call with school leaders, Monday, from home, inspect Tuesday & Wednesday in school, write report at home and submit to OFSTED Friday.

This article has made me very angry as it's incredibly misleading. There is no evidence of a link between wfh and school absence, just that they are happening at the same time.

It is entirely his opinion and he cannot possibly understand the many complex reasons behind school absence. The fact that The Times has put it on the front page means this will get more weight as an opinion than it deserves.

The reason for increased absence is school's inability to provide the correct environment for a growing number of children with needs. Schools are putting in all possible adaptations but we cannot change the environment - class sizes, corridors, sensory overwhelm - our outdated schools are not suitable environments for many children.

But that would involve investment and an overhaul of the education system so it's easier to blame wfh.

I personally think that we underestimate how much lockdown traumatised children. Many of us said it on MN at the time, and I’m not surprised it took so long for kids to get back in the swing of things or that some still haven’t even got there. But isn’t the obvious educated guess “lockdown fucked things” rather than “more parents WFH so that must be the problem”

All of which was completely needed to keep teachers (who were not considered to be priority for vaccines) safe from a Covid in the same way that other working people were kept safe (often WFH) of course! It is important to keep stating that teachers didn’t get a lot of ‘consideration’, unlike most of the population.

So basically ‘when it suits’ = to keep teachers safe (even if this wasn’t as long as most people were sitting at home) OR to gain fairer pay and conditions.

Don’t bash teachers for this. We aren’t responsible for every problem in society.

Really? He’s annoyed MPs - many of whom have families themselves - want to get home for the weekend on time and makes a strange barb about slippers. I WFH and don’t put slippers on ever

I was just thinking that. No longer have a school aged child, but when I did they were more likely to get a day off sick on my non-working day than if I had a meeting, so I guess it would have been the same if WFH. OTOH I would have been aware when DS considered attendance at 6th form to be optional and I only found out at parents meeting.