British parents ‘must try harder’, says Ofsted head The outgoing chief inspector of schools has accused British parents of not doing enough to support their children throughout their […]

The outgoing chief inspector of schools has accused British parents of not doing enough to support their children throughout their education.

In a parting shot on his last day as head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned parents need to follow the example of migrant families if UK schools were going to improve.

Sir Michael, who has been no stranger to controversy during his five year tenure running the watchdog, said one of the main reasons why schools in London performed so strongly was because of “ambitious migrant parents”.

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Ambitious migrants

When asked in an interview on LBC Radio how much London’s performance was down to migrant families, he replied: “A lot. A lot. Migrant children [with] ambitious parents – parents who want their children to do significantly better than they did.”

He added that during his time as a headteacher he was frequently left frustrated by British parents’ lack of support for their children in school.

“The family – I keep saying this – the family is the great educator,” Sir Michael said. “They have to support their children in school. They have to make sure they turn up to parents evenings. They have to make sure children do their homework, and they have to make sure they support the school’s discipline policies.

“All that is vitally important. And I speak not just as chief inspector but also as an ex-head, who got very frustrated with parents who didn’t support their children.”

The 70-year-old former headteacher went on to brand instances of parents dropping off their children to school in their dressing gowns as “outrageous”.

“What does that tell the children?” he added.

‘Feckless’

It is not the first time Sir Michael has criticised parents. Last year, he called for schools to be given powers to fine “feckless” parents who do not turn up to parents evenings or bring their children to school with the right books.

As principal of Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney, one of the country’s highest performing comprehensives, Sir Michael even took out restraining orders against badly behaved parents.

But Geoff Barton, headteacher of King Edward VI School in Suffolk, said the head of Ofsted’s comments were not helpful.

“Sir Michael came into the role of Chief Inspector making grandiose generalisations and, based on today’s remarks, he goes out doing the same,” Mr Barton said.

“Given that he heads Ofsted – an organisation that is supposed to be rooted in the forensic use of evidence – these sweeping statements are rarely helpful. But credit where it’s due: he has at least been consistent from day one.”

Elsewhere, the Chief Inspector warned that sexting – where sexually explicit imagery is sent via a text message – was a “big problem” in schools.

“It’s why I urge headteachers to ban mobile phones entirely from school. I did that. Just stop young people entirely from bringing in mobile phones,” he said.

“The big challenge is the sexual images that children are bombarded with from the moment they get up to the time they go to bed. This in many ways is giving them a skewed view of relationships and sex.”