NEU comments on Ofsted Inspections

Commenting on Ofsted’s decision to delay inspections until at least 8 March, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:

"We are pleased that Ofsted has shown sense and further delayed its on-site inspections. It has taken some time for the penny to drop, although the inspectorate still seeks to intervene at the earliest opportunity. Actual inspections, whether done in-person or remotely, are time consuming and would inevitably take attention away from the needs of pupils. They are the very last thing schools need right now.

"We continue to have concerns about the proposals to inspect remote learning. Teachers are under enough pressure at the moment and will find it hard to credit that this is the 'helping hand' of Ofsted. The inspectorate has no more experience of teaching school children online than those they would be inspecting. The inspectorate’s crisis of relevance should not fall on individual teachers. A continuity of learning must be our absolute focus right now."