I have been a secondary teacher for 33 years. Although I love my job, I hate the damage these anally retentive inspection systems are doing to our youngsters. Overwhelming research and testimony witness the inadequacy, harmful effects and prodigious expense of Ofsted. Every school in the land is dominated by fear, driving panic responses that are ignoring pupils’ real needs in order to meet a massive and bizarre range of preparatory measures that are politically motivated and decorative nonsense. This emphasis on compliance is trivialising UK schools and undermining the professionalism of teachers. It is killing adult creativity, and destroying students’ imagination.

There are a great many changes needed in UK education, but the most urgent is the removal of Ofsted.

Andy Dukes, Secondary teacher, Weymouth.