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”

I didn’t start a thread based on an article I didn’t read, at all. It was based on the ITV article which is the same as the Times article minus the stuff about the new system.

Odd. There's not enough info to know if his assumptions are true or not. Do we know for sure that the kids off are now with wfh parents?

Do school know that info? How do school know if and when Dh and I occasionally wfh?

Schools still expected high attendance rates from the moment lockdown was over.

YABVVU to start a thread about an article you haven’t even read and write about it in such disparaging tones.

Some people wanted OP to back up their position with facts and figures more than they wanted the man in the article to back up his opinion with facts and figures..

Go figure..

🤣

Well they don’t do they which is why his statement was odd and mealy mouthed

You hadn't read it when you started the thread and were asking people to break the contents down for you.

You started a thread being disparaging about an article that you have not actually read.
Interesting approach.
1/10 try harder

He goes on to say other very serious and important factors such as lockdown and mental health

but you’ve somewhat skirted over that

if this was one of my A-level pupils, who referred to an article in an essay that they’d only actually read an abstract of, I’d have been pretty disappointed. Scrap that.., if it was a year 10 I’d have been disappointed and marked them down 😆

The issue is not WFH though! There is an issue but he’s got it totally skewed. Why does he see his dad going off to work hours before he woke up as a positive when we don’t have to do that anymore? I WFH and can’t think of anything worse than having my kids hanging about while I’m trying to juggle work, meetings and catering to their needs. I love the fact that I get to take them to school at 8.30 and then start work 15 mins later.

I wrote it about the ITV article which is the same as the Times article minus the stuff about the new report card. It’s very well known outlets copy and paste text from other outlets, it was never going to be any different.

I haven't RTFT or the article but why single out WFH parents? Parents are at home as SAHP, not working at all for many reasons or home in the day because they work shifts for example. Why single out WFH parents from all the other parents who are at home?

The abstract does not refer to the other factors he speaks about including lockdown and mental health

Schools expect what Ofsted tells them to expect.

@ilovesooty I had read the article I posted about - which is a cut and paste job of the Times article.

i don’t know why people are still wrongly banging on about me it reading the article instead of stating perhaps why they think I’m wrong.

Well this was just wrong wasn’t it.

It didn’t provide stats on people WFH at all, and the only correlation stated was absence rates before lockdown vs after, NOT people who now WFH. Did you not read the article properly?

I had read the same text as it’s always a cut and paste job.

Couldn't agree more - schools are completely OBSESSED with attendance records.
A while back, I was in a pharmacy waiting for a prescription. There was a young child there with his mother. He was ill. His face was grey and he had a very bad cough. The mother was in tears on the phone to the school trying to explain the situation. I took the phone from her, explained that I had paramedic qualifications and said that the child was ill and needed to be home in bed. I asked the woman at the school if she wanted a child with a contagious disease to come to school and infect lots of other children who would then be absent from school themselves. She hung up on me.

I haven’t skirted over it. I never stated or implied he WHOLLY blamed low attendance with people WFH. If anything the info about mental health just bolsters my point - he stated that because it’s based on facts. The WFH point is just a theory. So if he CAN deduce causes based on fact, why go for a baseless stab in the dark?

Of course she hung up. He wasn't your child and she couldn't discuss his health with you.

Exactly. It’s all just very odd

This does not negate that the fact that the WFH speculation is utter batshit.

Because it doesn’t need to. It’s not relevant. Him saying children with MH issues are often absence doesn’t change the absolute nonsense he’s spouted about WFH parents

My Dad was a coal miner and worked shifts which meant I rarely saw him 'go off to work'. This had zero impact on my attendance.

The reasons for absence rates in schools vary and this new Ofsted bloke (who has already not exactly covered himself in glory with his Trumpian pronouncements) knows this perfectly well.

Does not seem very logical...

If a parent works from home they want to do so in a quiet house without being interrupted by their kids all the time. Surely that means making sure those children are at school!