Ofsted's latest failings make the calls to scrap it harder to ignore

A story in the education media this week raises further concerns about Ofsted’s lack of empathy towards those it is inspecting.

It is reported that the inspectorate refused to defer an inspection of a small rural school where the headteacher was absent from work while undergoing treatment for cancer.

The headteacher described the experience of the inspection going ahead as “horrendous”, saying that they felt guilty about the pressure on their staff and frustrated at being unable to properly have their say.

Ofsted has apologised “for the impact the timing of our inspection had on [the headteacher’s] wellbeing”.

This follows the inspectorate’s decision to press ahead with inspections during the fierce heatwave at the end of June, despite many schools effectively operating on a crisis footing.

The sensible course of action would have been to temporarily suspend inspections to allow schools to focus on staff and pupil wellbeing.

Instead Ofsted relied on the deferral process - granting only eight out of 14 requests - and paused another couple of inspections due to rising heat forcing the schools to close.

Ofsted inspections put leaders’ wellbeing at risk

Then there is mounting evidence of the impact of the new inspection system itself on the wellbeing of senior leaders.

A recent ITV News report featured a headteacher who said he had considered taking his life after an Ofsted inspection. He described it as “the worst two days of my entire career, possibly the worst two days of my adult life.”

All of this adds up to an inspectorate that seems to have had its head stuck in the sand, and the very real risk of another tragedy similar to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry in January 2023.

It feels increasingly as though a fundamental rethink is necessary.

Inspection frameworks come and go, but the problems remain with an inspection system that feels harsh, punitive and self-defeating, often stigmatising schools that most need support.

I hesitate to join the chorus of people calling for Ofsted to be scrapped. ASCL has always favoured reform rather that revolution.

But, honestly, it sometimes feels that Ofsted is so tainted that it might be best to start over.

Certainly the government and Ofsted itself have to be less guarded and more open to real change.

The Welsh way

I was struck by a recent conversation with a colleague in Wales, who told me about the more enlightened approach taken by their inspectorate, Estyn.

There, graded judgements were scrapped four years ago. Instead Estyn publishes an overview of its inspection findings alongside a more concise version specifically for parents.

In England, the notion of such an approach is anathema to policymakers. They feel that parents crave the simplicity of graded judgements.

And yet I’m not aware of parents in Wales reacting to this policy change with dismay and demanding the application of an adjective to understand their school’s performance.

Unsurprisingly, it seems that parents are perfectly capable of understanding a short report.

Indeed, this is arguably more accessible than Ofsted’s colour-coded charts and lexicon of descriptors and evaluation areas - which can only be fully understood by reading the inspection toolkit.

There are other reasons, of course, why policymakers in England like graded judgements.

No shortage of performance data

They are the trigger for various interventions, and they also allow governments to see trends in how schools are performing nationally against Ofsted standards.

However, Estyn can still decide that a school requires special measures or significant improvement as a trigger for follow-up activity.

And as for charting national performance, there is certainly no shortage of other performance data in the English school system.

At the very least we should have a proper debate about the purpose of inspections and what sort of system really works best for families and schools.

In the meantime, however, the government and Ofsted must surely act over the immediate risks posed to wellbeing.

Work with schools, not against them

Given that it is now a year since the new inspection framework was introduced, it would be sensible and timely to draw breath and conduct a review.

And that would best be achieved by temporarily pausing inspections before any further damage is done.

This isn’t an attempt to sabotage inspections.

It is in everybody’s best interests - including the government’s and Ofsted’s - that the system works with schools rather than seeming to work against them.

Pepe Di’Iasio is general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders