Schools should remove Ofsted banners from their premises to put the inspectorate “back in its box”, a leading headteacher will say today.
Simon Kidwell, president-elect of the NAHT school leaders’ union, will tell the union’s annual conference this afternoon that the current school inspection framework “isn’t fit for purpose” and is “doing more harm than good”.
In a speech to hundreds of school leaders at the opening of the conference in Telford, Mr Kidwell will say that the current model “causes unacceptable collateral damage” to mental and physical health.
Pressure has been mounting on the schools watchdog in England to introduce urgent reforms to the inspection process since the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Mr Kidwell will urge heads to remove mention of the inspectorate from their school buildings and websites.
‘Collective action’ against Ofsted
He will say: “When we return to school on Tuesday, let’s take some collective actions to put Ofsted back in its box.
“Let’s remove any Ofsted banners from our railings, erase Ofsted logos from our school stationery, delete Ofsted quotes from our websites, and when Ofsted reports are published, tell our communities that Ofsted is a snapshot of school performance judged against a framework that urgently needs a serious reform.”
Mr Kidwell, headteacher of Hartford Manor Primary School in Cheshire, said that his most recent Ofsted inspection, just a week earlier, although led by a highly skilled lead inspector who conducted the inspection with “intelligence and humanity...still almost broke two valuable and brilliant members of staff”.
He said that the death of Ms Perry had “sadly made me question if I have enough in the tank to lead my school through another Ofsted cycle”.
Ms Perry’s family have said she took her own life following an Ofsted inspection. The inspection report, published after her death, downgraded the school to “inadequate”.
Ms Perry’s death has prompted widespread calls for inspection reform.
Mr Kidwell will tell heads today that 16 months ago he was taken to hospital and for three days was signed off work because of physical complications that doctors thought were directly caused by the stresses and pressures of work.
“Let me be clear, Ofsted does not raise standards. It is the tireless work of the staff in schools that does that. At best, Ofsted offers little more than a snapshot of a school’s performance, and there are serious questions about how well it can do even that,” he will say.
“The reality for many is that the current approach to inspection compounds inequality between schools. The current model is a workload-creation vehicle for subject leaders, and it causes unacceptable collateral damage to school leaders’ mental and physical health.”
And with no sign of a resolution of the teacher pay dispute between school staff unions and government, Mr Kidwell will say that ministerial rhetoric about schools’ funding being restored to 2010 levels does not take account of the fact that “the job is unrecognisable from what it was in 2010”.
He will say that schools have become “front doors to children’s services”, providing solutions to challenges as diverse as children’s mental ill-health and feeding families during the school holidays. Local authority budgets have been reduced by billions and many services have been decimated, he will add.
“The additional £2.3 billion given to schools in the autumn Budget provided some headroom for schools after the unfunded 2022 pay award, but now we are being told that the additional funds will have to cover future pay awards, too. So many of us are back to square one with no resources to fund the additional frontline staff that will keep children’s services afloat,” Mr Kidwell will say.
“My message to the secretary of state is clear: we cannot continue to do more with less and the mythical magic money tree does not grow in school grounds.
“It breaks my heart that many of us cannot recommend teaching and school leadership to future generations without considerable health warnings about excessive workload, the toxic effects of punitive accountability, falling real-terms pay and the lack of opportunities for flexible working.
“Real-terms pay has fallen behind other professions. Too many young teachers aspire to work abroad, and teaching assistants are leaving for jobs in Costa coffee [shops].”
He will say that in a recent electronic ballot, 92 per cent of NAHT members said the government’s proposed pay award was unaffordable and 78 per cent said that they were willing to take industrial action over it.
“A demonstrable signal that we won’t stand by and let the long-term erosion in terms and conditions and the invisible hand of toxic accountability and underfunding continue to suffocate our profession,” Mr Kidwell will say.
