A snap poll by the National Education Union (NEU), of 1,577 teachers and school leaders, shows the vast majority of the profession does not feel Ofsted’s new school inspection system will resolve long standing concerns about the inspectorate’s impact on the mental health of school staff. The majority of members also expressed high levels of concern about the reliability and effectiveness of the new system and the urgent need for it to be paused.
The snap poll, conducted following Tuesday’s publication of Ofsted’s final proposals for reform to the school inspection system, found:
- 9 out of 10 (88%) members do not think the new inspection system will address the impact of Ofsted inspections on the mental health of school staff.
- 94% do not believe Ofsted inspectors will be able to reliably assess 7 areas of school life through a single inspection.
- 91% respondents said 9 weeks for the roll out of the new system did not give schools enough time to be ready.
- 90% respondents said there should be a pause and further consideration of the implementation of the proposed system.
The NEU has been raising serious concerns about the impact of Ofsted on the profession for years. Many members responded to the poll describing their feelings of distress, anxiety and fear a result of the current high-stakes accountability system – something they felt was not addressed through Ofsted’s reforms.
One teacher said: “I voted Labour because I had high hopes for our new Ed Sec… This was the time to make real changes not rehash the old process. More of us will leave due to stress. Of course we want to be held accountable but not by this Ofsted administration. We need to start from scratch and come up with a better more reliable and responsible process for monitoring schools and supporting them to make improvements.”
A headteacher said: “Change was brought about because a headteacher died by suicide. This inspection framework has added to the workload and stress of Heads. It’s changes like these that leave me thinking I don’t want to be a head anymore!”
Another concern raised was the severely limited time schools have been given to get ready for the new system, following Ofsted’s delay in publishing its final reforms – which leaves less than 9 weeks for schools to prepare, with the roll out of the new system set for November.
The vast majority of members thought there should be a pause and further consideration of the implementation of the proposed system – a call widely echoed by others across the education and mental health sector, including by Ruth Perry’s sister, Prof. Julia Waters, in a letter published on Tuesday 9, which condemned Ofsted’s proposals as ‘missed opportunity’ that ‘continues to pose a risk to the health and wellbeing of teachers and school leaders.’
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said:
“There can be no doubt about it – Martyn Oliver has failed. This week’s announcement on Ofsted is a wasted opportunity. As the head of Ofsted, he was meant to be in charge of bringing in a system that reduced pressure – the results of today’s snap poll show that he has spectacularly failed to do so.
“Teachers and school leaders are trapped in a rehashed version of a punitive, high-stakes system that has been proven to pose a risk to life. These reforms are not the positive change we needed – they will be bad for our schools, bad for the workforce but also bad for parents and students.
“It’s time now for our education secretary to intervene before it’s too late to change course.”
Editor's note
This snap poll took place between 4.30pm on Tuesday 9 September – 9am on Wednesday 10 September. We asked teachers and school leaders working in English state schools four Yes/No questions and an open text question in response to the publication of Ofsted’s new proposals:
- Do you think the new system sufficiently addresses the impact of Ofsted inspections on the mental health of school staff? [Yes: 88%, No: 12%]
- Do you think inspectors can assess 7 ‘core’ areas of school life reliably in a single inspection? [Yes: 6%, No: 94%]
- The new system will be rolled out in schools in November. Do you think 9 weeks is sufficient time to be ready for this? [Yes: 9%, No: 91%]
- Do you think there needs to be a pause and further consideration to the implementation of the proposed system? [Yes: 90%, No: 10%]
We received 1,577 responses, which we then reweighted in line with national figures to control for gender, region, age, role, school phase, school governance type, and level of deprivation in schools as measured by the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI).