Ofsted’s plans for a new inspection system put “at risk the health and wellbeing” of school leaders, a headteachers’ union has warned.
In its response to the inspectorate’s consultation on introducing a new inspection framework, the NAHT school leaders’ union says it is “extraordinary” that the consultation does not assess the “workload, wellbeing or health impacts of the proposals on school leaders and their staff”.
The NAHT’s concerns come after Ofsted, in an exclusive article for Tes, admitted that its proposed approach to grading with new inspection report cards “needs simplifying” and revealed other areas of its proposals that could change.
Ofsted is planning to inspect schools across up to 11 different evaluation areas on a new five-point grading scale when it launches its report cards later this year.
The watchdog’s consultation on inspection changes closes on 28 April, but its plans have already come under fire from other education unions.
Ofsted plans ‘threaten leaders’ wellbeing’
In its submission to Ofsted’s consultation, the NAHT highlights the death of headteacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life in January 2023 after an Ofsted inspection downgraded her school, Caversham Primary in Berkshire, from “outstanding” to “inadequate” based on safeguarding concerns.
A coroner later ruled that the Ofsted inspection had contributed to her death and warned of the risk of future deaths if the watchdog did not make changes.
The NAHT submission says: “There is no workload impact assessment of the proposals, and none of the focus on ensuring the health and wellbeing of professionals that would reasonably have been expected in light of the coroner’s prevention-of-future-deaths report.”
The union “states clearly and for the record that these proposals put at risk the health and wellbeing of school leaders”.
It adds that there is “no indication that the design of the proposals has given any due consideration or weight to making inspection safer by reducing the workload burden, fear and stress that leaders endure”.
The NAHT has also revealed that senior Ofsted inspectors have written to trade unions to highlight their own concerns about “the design of the new framework, the lack of consultation by Ofsted with its own staff, and the scant regard for inspector workload”.
‘Dangerous levels of workload’
In a snap poll of NAHT members earlier this year, following the announcement of the proposal for school inspection report cards, more than nine in 10 respondents rejected the watchdog’s plans.
The union’s submission to Ofsted’s consultation criticises the proposal as “tweaks...to a discredited model”.
The NAHT adds that the plans will not provide “better information and greater nuance for parents”. This comes after a poll commissioned by the watchdog found that more than two in three parents would prefer school report cards over the current system.
The union says the plans will more than double the number of graded judgements, which it warns will “drive new workload across the school workforce”, as Tes has previously reported.
“The known risks associated with inspection will increase as a result. This will place unacceptable and dangerous levels of workload, pressure and stress on school leaders and their teams,” the NAHT says.
The union adds that its casework suggests that inspectors’ long working hours, combined with an “overloaded and unmanageable framework”, may contribute to the “damaging behaviour and conduct of some inspectors”.
And the NAHT says that Ofsted’s position that schools need no preparation for inspection is “simply preposterous”.
‘Developing teaching’ grade is ‘unhelpful’
The union raises concerns about several of the evaluation areas that Ofsted is proposing to inspect.
The current proposals include achievement, behaviour and attitudes, leadership and governance, curriculum, developing teaching, personal development and wellbeing, attendance, inclusion and safeguarding.
While the NAHT says that developing teaching is an “important part of any school leader’s job”, it takes issue with Ofsted grading it, calling this “unhelpful and wholly unnecessary”.
The union also says that Ofsted has “no statutory basis” to create a definition of inclusion.
As Tes revealed last year, Ofsted has developed toolkits setting out how it will be judging schools across the different judgement areas.
But the NAHT criticises the clarity of the grade descriptors, adding that Ofsted’s proposals are “fatally flawed” without “clear, accurate and intelligible descriptors to underpin the case for grading”.
The union warns that “conduct issues, disputes and complaints” will arise if inspectors and schools are unable to discern the meaning of statements in the toolkits.
Ofsted has been approached for comment.
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