Parents working from home makes kids not want to go to school, Ofsted chief says
16 February 2025, 16:52
The head of Ofsted said children in England feel going to school is optional since the pandemic, as their parents opt to work from home instead of going to the office.
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Attendance rates are suffering in English schools because children whose parents work from home don’t find it important to go to school, 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.
Persistent absence across state secondaries in England rose from 13% in 2018-19 to 24% in 2022-23.
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"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?” Sir Martyn told the Sunday Times.
"I would be tempted to perhaps say, 'can I not stay with you?'”
According to the newspaper, a seventh of primary school children and a quarter of state secondary school pupils are persistently absent, missing at least one day a fortnight.
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.”
While only a small number of schools allow kids to be ‘flexi-schooled’, which involves their parents teaching them from home for a number of days per week, the trend is widespread across the country.
"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.
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"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."
The chief inspector also cited other factors such as anxiety, depression and poor mental health as contributing to the trend, as well as a lack of resources in schools.
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As schools aren’t able to afford or offer nurses, child psychologists or limits on screen time, children are finding it more difficult to attend classes every day.
Oliver believes the culture shift is here to stay, as more and more people are choosing to work from home.
“We’re still going to have to deal with the fact that there are great things you can do really efficiently behind a screen now,” he said.
“But you can’t deny that a child accessing other children, other adults and learning to socialise is a clear benefit of schooling.”
