Today (Thurs 23 Nov), school leaders’ union NAHT releases data
from an upcoming survey of its members – the majority of school
leaders in England – that reveals the profession’s ‘damning’
views on Ofsted.
With 1890 responses between 21st September and
12th October 2023, the survey showed that school
leaders have very little confidence in the quality of Ofsted
inspections or their judgements:
- 85% reported that they were ‘unconfident’ or ‘very
unconfident’ in Ofsted.
- 78% said they thought Ofsted inspectors are not able to fully
understand and evaluate a school in the time they spend on site –
only 12% believed they could.
- 64% disagreed that the headline grade given by Ofsted for a
school’s overall effectiveness was reliable.
- Only 20% felt Ofsted inspection reports provide useful
information for parents, and only 18% thought they were useful
for schools.
The responses also laid bare the awful impact of Ofsted on the
mental health and wellbeing of school leaders and school staff,
with the top 5 words given when asked how Ofsted made them feel
being anxious, sick,
stressed, terrified and
dread.
When asked which factors had the greatest impact on school
leaders’ mental health over the last year, the most frequently
cited factor was “Ofsted pressures”.
Additionally, concern was raised about Ofsted’s complaints
procedure, with 95% saying they disagreed or strongly disagreed
that Ofsted deals with complaints about the accuracy of
inspection judgements effectively.
Commenting on the findings, Paul Whiteman, NAHT general
secretary, said: “This is a pretty damning inditement of how far
Ofsted has lost its way. Far from driving school improvement,
inspections are seen as inaccurate, unreliable, and of little use
to parents or schools. Ofsted is clearly no longer fit for
purpose, even after the limited changes it was forced to make in
the wake of the Ruth Perry tragedy.
“And the appalling impact of Ofsted on the health and wellbeing
of school leaders and all school staff really cannot be
underestimated. It is by far the biggest source of stress
reported by our members, and we know is a serious barrier to
those considering taking up headship. There is a sense that
Ofsted inspections – and the anticipation of them – can truly
take over a school leader’s life.
“The impact of a single word judgement that cannot possibly
capture a whole school performance can be devastating. And it’s
not only a ‘bad’ grade that can be damaging – many school leaders
with positive inspection outcomes talk powerfully about the
negative impact of the inspection process on their health.
“Unfortunately, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that
Ofsted is broken. This must be a wake-up call to government, and
the number one priority for the new Chief Inspector when he
starts in January.”
This data is part of a wider survey into pay, workload,
inspection and wellbeing. The full results of that survey will be
published later this year.
NAHT will also be compiling a report based on our members’ views
of what needs to be done to ‘fix’ Ofsted, to inform the debate as
the new HMCI takes up his role.
