The UK Chief Inspector of Education has said that his country’s government should look at rewarding “good citizens” to knock on their neighbours’ doors and demand why their children are not in school.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Ofsted chief inspector told MPs that, as a former head teacher, he “saw the result of children being brought up badly by their parents.”

He believes that communities should play more of a role in supporting problem families.

“These families need to know that they can’t go on treating their children like this, they can’t go on behaving in this manner….”

 

“As a headteacher I used to tell parents that they were behaving badly and that they were bad parents.

 

“It didn’t often go down extremely well but nevertheless that was my responsibility and it’s a responsibility of social workers,” he said.

Referring to the old phrase “it takes a village to raise a child,” Wilshaw said communities have got a big part to play in supporting our most difficult families and most vulnerable children.

“In my experience in the most difficult communities there are always going to be good people who want to help.

 

“How do you incentivise good citizens, good people, good family members to engage with the most difficult members of society, and that’s a policy issue for Government.

 

“How do you financially incentivise these people to get up in the morning, knock on the neighbours door, and say your children are not up yet, they’ve not had their breakfast yet, why aren’t you taking them to school?

 

“As an ex-headteacher I saw the result of children being brought up badly by their parents, so society has got to worry about what’s happening in families and families in particular parts of the country, and children’s services have got a part to play in helping and supporting those families, but families have got a huge part to play and communities have got a huge part to play in supporting children.”

Do you agree with him? Do you think Government has a role is ensuring good parenting?