A sharp increase in children missing education entirely is “a scandal”, Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver has warned today as he launched the watchdog’s latest annual report.

The report reveals that there are 19 per cent more children missing education entirely compared with last year’s figures.

Speaking at a press conference, Sir Martyn said: “How can that be right? How can children missing education entirely have risen by a fifth in one year? If that is not a scandal of attendance, I don’t know what is.”

The report warns that disadvantaged pupils face an attainment gap, too often miss school and are unable to recover lost learning.

It also says that pupil absence “remains endemic” and highlights concerns that poor pupil behaviour is “driving teachers out of the profession”.

Hope for ‘system-wide behaviour shift on inclusion’

This is Ofsted’s first annual report to be published after its new framework, which sees schools judged across six areas on a new five-point grading scale, was launched in November. It covers inspection findings in 2024-25.

Sir Martyn said that he hopes the changes to education inspections will contribute to a “system-wide behaviour shift on inclusion”, which is now a key evaluation area for inspections.

He also said it is “critical” that early intervention and support from education, health and children’s services is incentivised “if we are to prevent addressable issues becoming acute”.

“No organisation or service can tackle these challenges on their own, which is why we need a strong coalition of education, health and children’s services to do so,” Sir Martyn added.

The chief inspector said Ofsted stands “ready to do all we can” to support the government in addressing these issues and holding organisations to account for the work they do.

Focus on disadvantaged pupils

The report warns that the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers begins early and widens throughout the educational phases.

Sir Martyn said: “Exacerbating this, disadvantaged children too often miss school and are unable to recover lost learning, ending up in alternative provision or out of education altogether.

“Many of them will have special educational needs or require social care support, at a time when these public services are under particular strain.”

The report highlights disparities in outcomes for disadvantaged and vulnerable children across the education system.

It says: “This begins with a lack of access to good quality early education and care in more deprived areas, which has a lasting impact on entire communities.

“In schools, the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged children remains stubborn, with poorer pupils lagging months behind their peers.”

Final inspections under outgoing framework

Around one in six schools were found to be delivering a quality of education that was less than “good” in the final year of inspections under Ofsted’s previous framework.

Overall single-word school effectiveness grades were scrapped at the start of the 2024-25 academic year by the new Labour government.

Ofsted has continued to inspect schools and give them grades for the key evaluation areas under the education inspection framework.

Figures in the annual report show that 15 per cent of schools inspected were graded as “requires improvement” for their quality of education, and 1 per cent were rated as “inadequate”.

Just over two-thirds were found to be “good” and 16 per cent were rated as “outstanding”.

The strongest performing areas were personal development, where 96 per cent of schools were rated as “good” or “outstanding”, and behaviour, where 94 per cent of schools were rated as “good” or “outstanding”.

Behaviour is ‘driving teachers out of profession’

Despite the positive outcomes on behaviour in school inspections, Ofsted’s report highlights concerns about challenges caused in the classroom.

It says: “Too many children are spending too long out of school and falling out of step with the expectations of school life, which makes them more likely to cross boundaries, challenge teachers and disrupt the learning of others.

“This is a huge concern of parents, and always has been. But increasingly we are seeing commentary from education professionals describing the impact of behaviour and the part it plays in driving too many teachers out of the profession.”

Ofsted says that more often than not, it “finds schools with good, consistently applied behaviour policies and approaches”.

And adds: “Where we see schools taking good steps to tackle behaviour issues, we have tended to judge them ‘good’ or better. So, we need to ask the question: if the school is doing all the right things, why is behaviour such a growing concern among teachers?”

The report suggests the answer could be down to the prevalence of lower-level disruption.

In Ofsted’s new report cards, attendance and behaviour are one evaluation area. Today’s report describes them as two sides of a coin.

Schools need help with online risks

The report suggests that the influence of social media is impacting disruptive behaviour.

It says: “Whether by chipping away at attention spans and eroding the necessary patience for learning, or by promoting disrespectful attitudes and behaviours.”

Sir Martyn said: “It’s clear to me that schools need to help their pupils navigate the risks and pitfalls of their online lives.”

Almost a third of areas found to have SEND failings

Ofsted found systemic failings in almost a third of the areas it inspected for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision during the 2024-25 academic year.

The report shows there were 29 area inspections last year carried out by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission.

These inspections result in area partnerships of education, health and care providers being given one of three grades for SEND provision.

Only four areas of the country were given the highest rating, where positive experiences and outcomes were the norm. In 16 areas, outcomes were found to be inconsistent, and in nine areas, the inspections found systemic failings.

A Tes analysis of published inspection reports in 2025 found that long waits for assessments, diagnosis and health services for pupils have been repeatedly highlighted as problems in inspection reports for areas found to have systemic failings in SEND provision.

Artificial intelligence concerns

Ofsted’s report also warns that teachers are concerned about bias and a lack of diversity from artificial intelligence (AI) tools trained on Western-focused data.

While some teachers are excited about AI’s potential to cut their workload, others said some products are “over-sold and under-developed”, adding that they have concerns about maintaining educational integrity, the report says.

This is the first time the inspectorate has mentioned AI in any annual report.

Some of the issues inspectors have heard about from schools and colleges include that AI tools trained on Western-focused data are potentially introducing “bias and a lack of diversity in their outputs”, which schools are addressing by teaching pupils to recognise AI’s limitations.

Private special school profits

Profiteering in the private special school sector has the “potential” to be the next scandal, Sir Martyn agreed in response to a question about the high profit margins of some independent special schools.

Sir Martyn also said that disadvantaged children falling behind their peers can lead to behaviour and attendance issues. He added that this can manifest gaps in learning, which manifest as special educational needs being identified.

He warned that this leads to a system charging “disproportionate sums of money to support children that just needed good early first wave intervention and help”.

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