Ofsted should not mark own homework on complaints says NAHT

Responding after Ofsted set out improvements to its post-inspection complaints process, Ian Hartwright, head of policy at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“There are small improvements to the complaints process here which we hope will lead to better dialogue with school leaders.

“However, our recent survey of school leaders found 95% disagreed or strongly disagreed that Ofsted dealt with complaints about the accuracy of inspection judgements effectively.

“This underlines that much more needs to be done to regain the confidence of the education profession in the complaints procedure, and ultimately we need to see an independent body handling complaints rather than an inspectorate marking its own homework.

“More broadly, fundamental reform of the way Ofsted operates is urgently needed to improve the reliability and usefulness of inspections, while reducing the unacceptable toll on the wellbeing and mental health of leaders and teachers. If delivered, these changes might go a long way towards reducing the number of complaints in the first place.”