This week, the National Education
Union called on Ofsted inspections to be paused given the concern
about school leaders’ welfare.
The NEU is campaigning for Ofsted to
be replaced by a system which is supportive, effective and
fair.
A group of teachers and heads will
assemble in Parliament Green at
midday on
Thursday 23 March. They will be joined by national
spokespersons of the NEU, including Niamh Sweeney, Deputy General
Secretary. The group will then proceed to the Department for
Education, Sanctuary Buildings, 20 Great Smith St, SW1P 3BT, for
the hand in at approximately 12.30pm.
The petition has
been signed by over 45,000 people. It calls on Government
to:
-
Replace Ofsted with a school
accountability system which is supportive, effective and
fair.
-
Work with teachers, leaders and
other stakeholders to establish a commission to learn how
school accountability is done in other high performing
education nations.
-
Develop an accountability system
which commands the trust and confidence of education staff as
well as parents and voters.
This petition was started before the
tragic death of Ruth Perry.
Niamh Sweeney, Deputy General
Secretary of the National Education
Union,
said:
"Ofsted are simply not in touch with
what’s happening in schools and they are failing on
their own terms to be a ‘force for improvement’. Parents,
staff and school leaders all want every school and college
to succeed and it’s important that there is accountability
to parents and students. However, no system succeeds or
improves when staff leaving this important profession cite in
such high numbers that it is the inspection and the surveillance
culture which is causing them to
leave.
"NEU members want Ofsted to be
replaced with a system which is supportive of staff efforts,
captures the whole range of student achievements and which,
simply put, is fair. Inspection should take a reasonable account
of the context of the school and it should take account of
the welfare of staff. A national body shouldn’t have lost
the confidence of school leaders and the profession. The public
debate this week has highlighted how little support there is for
the concept of four blunt grades, because it is clearly absurd
that the whole of school life is condensed into a single-word
judgment. There is also a growing concern among leaders that
schools are being downgraded for spurious reasons which are not
objective or reasonable grounds.
"It’s inescapable that, if we carry on
as we are, we jeopardise the health of school leaders and won’t
keep enough leaders. There are other, better approaches to
inspection and it is time for
change."
Editor’s
Note
The full text of the petition is
available here: https://www.replaceofsted.valueeducation.org.uk/sign-petition
