A significant number of children are experiencing “unorthodox” schooling since the pandemic, including part-time timetables and hybrid learning, England’s education watchdog has warned.
Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s chief inspector, said education has become “fractured and fragmented for too many children”, while pupil attendance remains a “stubborn and damaging issue” after Covid-19 lockdowns.
In his first annual report as chief inspector, Sir Martyn said the watchdog is “concerned” about the growing number of children “whose pattern of education is disjointed” since the pandemic.
Flexi-schooling – where parents home-educate their children for part of the week – is “on the rise” across England, he said.
Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) and behaviour needs are also “increasingly” receiving a mix of online and in-person lessons.
Ofsted’s annual report – which reflects on the state of education and children’s social care in England in the 2023/24 academic year – also estimated that 34,000 children are on part-time school timetables, where pupils attend school for part of the week and the rest of the time they are at home.
Department for Education (DfE) guidance says part-time timetables should only be used in “very limited circumstances” and should not be used to manage a child’s behaviour.
“The spread of part-time timetables suggests they are becoming more readily used, which cannot be good,” Sir Martyn warned.
Along with the tens of thousands of children who are home educated – and an unknown number attending unregistered schools – there is a “very significant number of children who have, one way or another, been opted out of more orthodox patterns of education”, the Ofsted boss said.
Ofsted’s report highlighted that attendance issues have “deepened” since the pandemic, and disadvantaged children are more likely to miss class.
Nearly a fifth (19.2%) of pupils in England were “persistently absent” – missing at least 10% of school sessions – in autumn and spring 2023/24, latest Government figures show.
This is higher than the pre-pandemic rate in the autumn and spring terms of 2018/19 (10.5%).
Sir Martyn said: “There has been a shift in attitudes since the pandemic lockdowns: the expectations of school attendance are now viewed more casually.
“With working from home now firmly established for many parents, the old family routines have been loosened.
“It’s perhaps unsurprising that the absentee rates for Fridays outstrip the other days of the week.”
Sir Martyn said parents who have been working from home since the pandemic are keeping their children off school with them.
The boss of England’s education watchdog told Good Morning Britain (GMB) on Thursday: “Pre-pandemic, we used to notice as headteachers and teachers that if parents did work from home they would send their children in.
“But now post-pandemic we also see parents are working from home and sometimes they keep their children off with them.”
The watchdog’s report added that some children continue to “lag behind” with language, communication and social skills when they start school, which it said had not been helped by pandemic lockdowns.
Sir Martyn took over as Ofsted’s chief inspector in January when the watchdog faced criticism after the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Mrs Perry took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from the highest to the lowest rating over safeguarding concerns.
A coroner concluded the Ofsted inspection in November 2022 had contributed to her death.
In September, the Labour Government announced that single-phrase headline Ofsted grades for state schools in England would be scrapped.
Ofsted also announced reforms after its major Big Listen public consultation earlier this year, including plans to introduce a “report card” to provide more detail and nuance about institutions.
Sir Martyn said: “As we introduce changes to the way we work, we will not shy away from calling out unacceptable education or care. But we will also highlight and champion great work and positive outcomes.”
Ofsted’s report concluded that outcomes for children and young people with Send are “poor”.
It added that there is a “fundamental mismatch” between the scale of demand and the level of resources in the system.
Sir Martyn said: “We know that for the most vulnerable children, life and learning can be more difficult.
“That is very rarely down to the services they receive, but it can be down to the services they do not receive.”