Ofsted inspections causing ‘harm’ and 'making teachers want to quit'
Ofsted rolled out a new report card system for grading schools in England in November.
Ofsted’s inspection system is causing “harm” to teachers and making them want to quit the profession, the largest education union in the UK has said.
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School staff do not feel reforms to inspections are an improvement and a sense of dread towards upcoming inspection remains “significant and pervasive”, a report by the National Education Union (NEU) has suggested.
Ofsted rolled out a new report card system for grading schools in England in November, after it scrapped single-word judgments following the death of Ruth Perry in 2023.
The Caversham Primary School headteacher took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her primary school from its highest rating to its lowest over safeguarding concerns, and an inquest into her death found the inspection was a contributory factor.
An online survey of more than 1,500 NEU members in England who had experienced inspection under the new framework, found that 26% said their recent experience of inspection made them want to leave the profession.
The survey, which was carried out in June, suggests nearly two in three (65%) respondents said the new framework felt the same as before or worse.
More than four in five NEU members surveyed reported that a recent Ofsted inspection had had a negative impact on their stress levels.
The findings come just days after the NAHT school leaders’ union called for a halt to graded Ofsted inspections amid fears that they pose a risk to life.
The NEU has called on Ofsted to introduce a narrative-based school inspection report to replace the five-point grading scale.
In the NEU report on inspection under the new framework, a senior leader in a secondary school said: “It felt like something that was done to us, not with us.
“I watched the mental health of my colleagues plummet during and after the inspection.
“During the reading of the report at the end, a deputy head teacher was visibly sobbing but the last inspector did not pause or acknowledge the distress she was in.”
A primary school teacher at another school said: “I did not sleep. I cried constantly. It was a circle of stress and fear.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “It is just not acceptable that the new framework is driving this amount of stress and harm to the mental and physical health of school staff.
“How can we carry on with an inspection framework that makes a quarter want to leave the profession?
“This is not the progress that the profession called for two years ago.
“Ofsted have failed to take feedback seriously and seem oblivious to the cost and danger to leaders and teachers’ working lives and health.”
He added: “We call on (Ofsted chief inspector) Sir Martyn Oliver to seriously engage with the findings about the intense workload and poor health directly driven by his new Nando’s score cards and framework.
“These findings show preventable harms and we can’t look away from those.”
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Ofsted exists to raise standards for children and to provide clear reporting to parents.
“Over the last three years, we have worked closely with teaching unions to deliver significant reforms to how Ofsted inspections work, while keeping our focus on what children and parents need from us.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We know that inspection and accountability are essential to ensuring that every child has the best educational experience – equally, this should not come at the expense of teacher and headteacher wellbeing, something we take incredibly seriously.
“That’s why we’re continuing to work closely with Ofsted and school leaders to make sure inspections are collaborative, constructive and, most importantly, fair.
“At the same time, we’re backing the great staff who transform our country’s schools – including offering mentoring, coaching and wellbeing support through our Excellence in Leadership offer for headteachers, helping schools learn from each other on flexible working and managing workloads, and announcing a pay award that will benefit teachers, teaching assistants and support staff alike.”