Headteachers are taking legal action against Ofsted, England’s schools watchdog, over fears that its new inspection regime is “even worse than before” and likely to harm the mental health of school leaders.
The National Association of Head Teachers said it had lodged a claim for a judicial review againstOfsted“over the potential impact of their inspection proposals” and for inadequate consultation over its new system of grading schools.
Ofsted’s inspection regime has been mired in controversy since the 2023 death by suicide of the headteacher Ruth Perry, with acoroner finding that Perry’s deathwas “contributed to by an Ofsted inspection”.
Paul Whiteman, the NAHT’s general secretary, said: “Somehow the focus on school leader mental health and wellbeing has got lost along the way during Ofsted’s consultation process.
“We must not forget that the catalyst for these changes was the tragic death of Ruth Perry and widespread acceptance that the inspection regime was placing school leaders under intolerable pressure. However, there appears to have been very little thought given to the impact on the wellbeing of school leaders in the drawing up of these plans and the consultation that followed.
“School leaders are deeply concerned that the new report cards could result in an even worse system than before, with potentially disastrous impact on workload, wellbeing and retention.
“We have tried engaging with Ofsted and explaining this, but so far these concerns have fallen largely on deaf ears. We have been left with little choice other than to pursue this action.”
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Supporting the mental health of those we inspect is an important part of the development of our proposals and we are already hearing positive feedback through our inspection tests.“Our legal team have responded robustly to NAHT. Their suggested claims are plainly untenable. If legal action is launched, we will resist and seek costs.”
Labour’s election manifesto vowed to do away with the single-phrase inspection judgments used to grade Perry’s primary school in Berkshire, which was downgraded from “outstanding” to “inadequate”.
Earlier this week, Perry’s sister, Prof Julia Waters,urged the government to pause the overhaulbecause it would leave in place a system “based on shame”.
Waters told the BBC: “At the inquest into my sister’s death, the coroner warned that there was a risk of future deaths if only lip service was paid to learning from tragedies like Ruth’s death.
“But in launching their consultations, neither Ofsted nor the Department for Education even referred to Ruth’s death. Instead, they have proposed a new system that is really the old system with a few tweaks around the edges and is not the radical reform that’s needed.”
Ofsted’s plans are for a report card grading schools in up to 10 areas, using a colour-coded scale ranging from red “causing concern” to orange “attention needed”, followed by green shades of “secure”, “strong” and “exemplary” in each area.
A motion being debated at the NAHT annual conference in Harrogate instructs the union to oppose the changes, “to protect the mental and physical health and wellbeing of school leaders and staff”.