Children are receiving ‘life lessons' from influencers and AI
Sir Martyn Oliver will argue that classroom learning with human interaction 'has never been more important' as children are spending their lives online.
In a major speech at the Festival of Education, the Ofsted chief will say schools are places of 'refuge', connection, friendship and humanity for children.
Sir Martyn will tell the event at Wellington College, Berkshire: 'Right now, many children live much of their lives online.
'Socially, they are never 'off' and always in touch with their friends.
'And they increasingly receive life lessons from influencers or AI-generated summaries.
'I would argue that the place of learning, real learning, classroom learning – with human interaction – has never been more important.'
The Ofsted boss will add: 'In a way there's something cloistered about living one's life in a curated online environment.
'You may be able to find 'the best that has been thought or said' if you go looking for it.
'But who's guiding you through it? Where's the human connection? And of course, where's the protection?'
His comments come amid calls from the Conservatives for the Government to bring in a statutory ban on smartphones in schools.
Schools in England were given non-statutory Government guidance in February last year intended to stop the use of phones during the school day.
Sir Martyn will say: 'Schools have never just been places of learning.
'They were, and are places of safety, even refuge. Places of community and connection. Places of friendship and humanity.
'They are citadels of childhood: communities within communities looking after their own and helping children develop into well-rounded adults – capable of looking after others in turn.'
On Thursday, Sir Martyn will hit back at cynics who 'decry the norms of education' and who say Ofsted enforces an 'out-of-date, joyless system'.
In his speech, he will say: 'For Ofsted, teaching a full, rich range of subjects isn't just a nice to have, it's fundamental to a great education.
'Music and art and sport aren't add-ons to the core curriculum, they are some of the most important subjects to study, in terms of developing a child's awareness of the world around them.
'And in a more macro sense, feeding into the cultural evolution of our country and pushing civilisation on.'
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"I am a lifelong Democrat who first worked for Eugen McCarthy's Presidential bid," one email wrote to Gramlich, Fecteau, later adding, "Depriving Libby of her voice and her vote does not punish her. She and the GOP love it… "Depriving her of her voice and vote is unethical, as it punishes her constituents. You have removed MY representative in the house. Depriving Libby of her voice and vote is the best thing that can happen to her in a long time. She is advancing her public profile dramatically, not just locally but statewide and nationally by playing the victim and claiming the role of protector of girls and women." Another email from another of Libby's constituents wrote, "I believe that supporting women in government must include supporting women with differing opinions. Silencing an elected official for expressing a viewpoint — even a controversial one — sets a concerning precedent for both free speech and fair representation." Fox News Digital has reached out to Gramlich's and Fecteau's offices to ask why they voted to restore Libby's speaking rights. On June 8, Libby and the Maine AG's office agreed to drop the censure lawsuit. Libby provided a statement to Fox News Digital one day earlier on June 7, addressing her decision not to contest the AG ruling her lawsuit moot after her rights were restored. "While the Attorney General now claims this case is moot, make no mistake—this is only because House Democrats backed down in the face of legal defeat. They rescinded the unconstitutional restrictions on my voting and speaking rights, and more importantly, they've put in writing that those restrictions cannot be reimposed for the same reasons in the future," Libby said. "I will not contest the AG's mootness argument—but only because the constitutional rights of my constituents have now been restored and the leadership has formally abandoned the punishment they once insisted was justified." The state is now in a lawsuit against the DOJ after refusing to make an agreement to comply with Trump's demands on protecting girls' sports. Residents organized multiple protests and marches on the state's capitol building in Augusta over the issue, wielding signs that echoed the messages of a national movement to "save girls' sports." Many of the protesters were girls' high school sports athletes like Himes, who marched on the capital to lobby for a state-level bill to keep girls' sports exclusively female in early May. Trump's administration made multiple funding pauses to the state over the issue of trans athletes, which were later rescinded. The first was to the state's university system, UMS, on March 11. That pause ended after a Title IX compliance review. The second pause came on April 2, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut funding to all Maine public schools. That pause ended on May 2. Amid the chaos, some school districts in the state even went out of their way to defy Mills and Makin, to comply with Trump on the issue. MSAD #70, in mid-April, and RSU #24, in early May, each passed localized resolutions that ensured only females were allowed in girls' sports. Still, the state's high school sports season in 2025 saw another transgender athlete for North Yarmouth Academy compete against girls in Nordic skiing and track and field. The state's tornado of national attention came to a lull in early June when the school year and high school sports season ended. The trans athlete for Greely High School that thrust the state into chaos months earlier did not show up to compete in the girls' state finals on June 10. Now, the state has a fall sports season to worry about in the coming months and a trial date with the DOJ in January as the state's Democratic leaders remain defiant of Trump. All the while, data suggests the state's residents don't support current policies. A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it is "only fair to restrict women's sports to biological women." The poll also found that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women's and girls' sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with children under age 18. "The Maine Department of Education is captured by activists who want to project their troubling ideology onto children, regardless of the unfairness or even danger this poses to young girls. If Maine's officials truly cared about their athletes, they would have already reversed course years ago. Unfortunately, this is about pushing a dangerous ideology above all else," Defending Education's Casey Ryan told Fox News Digital of his opinion on Makin's handling of the situation. Defending Education Outreach Director Erika Sanzi told Fox News Digital, "It's bad enough when an individual school is teeming with gender ideologues but when the state's department of education is also overrun with these activists, the well-being of students is at much greater risk." Now, more than five months after Makin's initial guidance to Maine schools to defy Trump, the state's conflict with the White House may only just be beginning. And that defiance may not have even represented the desires of most Mainers to begin with. Additionally, because of that defiance that Makin helped stoke initially, Libby's rise could foreshadow a wide-ranging impact on the state's political balance of power in the 2026 midterms and Maine's gubernatorial election.
