Parents working from home makes children feel school is optional – Ofsted head

Attendance rates are suffering because children whose parents work from home feel going to school is optional, the head of Ofsted has reportedly claimed.

Sir Martyn Oliver, chief inspector at the education watchdog, said the culture of not going into the office every day had broken the daily habit of “putting your shoes on instead of your slippers” and going out to work.

According to the Sunday Times, a seventh of primary school children and a quarter of state secondary school pupils are persistently absent, missing at least one day a fortnight.

Persistent absence across state secondaries in England rose from 13% in 2018-19 to 24% in 2022-23.

According to the same newspaper, Sir Martyn said: “(After the pandemic) suddenly people were used to working from home and, in many cases, I don’t think there was that same desire to have their child in school while they were at home.

“They had been used to it for the best part of a year-and-a-half, on and off, during lockdown. That changed something.

“If my mum and dad were at home all day, would I want to get up and leave the house, knowing they were both there?

“I would be tempted to perhaps say, ‘can I not stay with you?’.

“Seeing my dad go out early to work, often hours before I had even got up, well, there’s an expectation: put your shoes on, put your school uniform on and go out the door and go to school; go to work.”

He added: “I think developing good social habits of getting up in the morning, putting your shoes on instead of your slippers, going to school, expecting to complete a full day’s school, a full day’s work – clearly that’s habit forming.

“Nationally, Fridays have always been the worst attendance day (for schools), but then 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?”

Asked if children were copying adult working patterns, Sir Martyn responded: “Yes.”