Headteachers’ union to explore options for legal action over Ofsted plans

A headteachers’ union will explore options for taking legal action over the impact of the schools watchdog’s new inspection system.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said it will not yet encourage member school leaders to stop being Ofsted inspectors as it had previously considered, but this action may be considered in future.

Pepe Di’Iasio, ASCL general secretary, said the union does not take the step of exploring legal action lightly, “but our members are gravely concerned about the stress and pressure likely to be generated by the new inspection system with its five-point grading scale applied over multiple evaluation areas”.

The ASCL’s executive committee and council will also submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act for the full results of the feedback from education professionals on Ofsted’s new inspection system.

The union’s executive committee felt information published on this in Ofsted’s response to a consultation on its plans lacked quantitative analysis, the ASCL said.

The union’s council will also seek feedback from schools on the impact of the new system as it is implemented over the coming months.

An ASCL survey in September found nearly two in three (65%) members said they feared the new system would be worse for their wellbeing.

The ASCL fears the new system “won’t provide better information to parents because of the difficulties in inspectors arriving at so many judgments during a single inspection in a way that is consistent and reliable”, Mr Di’Iasio added.

“It seems to us like a recipe for chaos.

“However, we are trying to be as reasonable as possible, and have decided to hold off from encouraging members who are Ofsted inspectors to withdraw their services for the time being while we gather evidence about the impact of the new system as inspections are rolled out.

“But we will be monitoring this closely and that option remains firmly on the table.”

School leaders’ union NAHT launched legal action against Ofsted over the potential impact of their inspection proposals earlier this year.

Teaching unions have criticised Ofsted’s inspection reforms, which will see new report cards rolled out from November.

Ofsted’s response to the consultation on its plans in September confirmed it would push ahead despite calls to delay, though the five possible grades were renamed as urgent improvement, needs attention, expected standard, strong standard, and exceptional.

A poll by YouGov found almost seven out of 10 parents surveyed preferred the new-look report cards to Ofsted’s current inspection reports.

However, an independent report by Sinead McBrearty, the chief executive of teacher wellbeing charity Education Support, said that stakeholders had called for the rollout of the changes to be stopped or slowed down, and that baseline stress of school leaders is “concerningly high”.

Single-word judgments for schools were scrapped last year following criticism of the inspection system since the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.

Mrs Perry took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from its highest rating of “outstanding” to its lowest rating, “inadequate”, over safeguarding concerns.

Professor Julia Waters, sister of Ruth Perry, said in September Ofsted’s new plans “still put school leaders at risk of public shaming”, and urged the education secretary to halt the rollout.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “We welcome ASCL’s sensible decision not to ask members who work for us as inspectors to withdraw their services.

“We have had really positive feedback from our pilots and we’re confident that our new-look inspections will be well-received when they begin in November.”