School leaders’ mental health is being “ravaged” by the pressures of Ofsted inspections and the “softening the edges” approach being taken by the new chief inspector will not solve the issue, a report is set to reveal.
The annual report, looking at headteacher wellbeing and seen by Tes ahead of its release next week, is expected to show that the watchdog is still the greatest cause of school leader stress.
The report, from the school leader support service Headrest, is expected to say that the organisation is “dubious” about how useful the new chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver’s imminent Big Listen project will be.
“We do not believe that Ofsted softening the edges of its approach is now the answer,” Headrest will say in the report, which will detail how the organisation has received “calls from many school leaders whose wellbeing was damaged by the adverse influence of Ofsted”.
“This included some for whom their physical and/or mental health was ravaged to such a degree they were leaving the profession,” the Headrest report will add.
“We talked to callers who admitted they had contemplated serious self-harm, including, in a few instances, suicide,” the Headrest report will say, based on 100 calls and conversations with headteachers during the past year.
“In all honesty, the Headrest team is dubious about how useful [the Big Listen project] might be,” the organisation will add.
Ofsted said it will provide details of its Big Listen national consultation exercise next month. The initiative was unveiled by Sir Martyn when he took up his post in January.
It forms part of a series of measures, announced by the chief inspector, aimed at addressing criticisms made in a coroner’s report following the inquest into the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
‘Inspection system is neither fair nor proportionate’
Headrest’s annual wellbeing report, including its recommendations to the Department for Education, will be published on Monday 26 February.
The organisation’s findings, based on 100 calls to the service during 2023, come after Ofsted claimed it puts staff wellbeing at the “forefront of its thinking” in its submission to the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter earlier this year.
Tom Middlehurst, inspection specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the concerns raised in the Headrest report “tally with what we hear from school and college leaders on a regular basis and strongly suggest that the current inspection system is neither fair nor proportionate”.
“The high-stakes nature of inspection is a big driver of stress and anxiety among school and college leaders. It is just not right for inspections to take such a toll on the wellbeing of staff,” Mr Middlehurst said.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the watchdog’s exercise in listening to the profession was not working.
“There is clearly something fundamentally wrong with an inspection system that results in the undermining of headteachers’ confidence and belief in their ability to do their jobs,” he added.
Pressure of small-school leadership
School leaders’ calls to the Headrest support service also flagged the “continued erosion” of school budgets, issues with staff retention and the fact that schools were the “front line” of support for families struggling to make ends meet as major issues impacting their wellbeing.
The annual report will also detail the extent of pressure felt by small school leaders, including how Ofsted’s education inspection framework “fails to pay due regard to the demands of subject leadership in a special or small-school setting”.
“Headrest callers working in such settings feel that their school is being penalised because they lack the subject leadership capacity of larger schools,” the report will say.
Ofsted’s inspection of small schools under the new framework has previously drawn criticism.
Last year, six former HMIs told the Education Select Committee that “only one primary school with under 100 pupils was judged ‘outstanding’ since the framework’s introduction in 2019”.
The report will reveal that several small-school leaders who contacted Headrest last year felt the current Ofsted framework “exacerbated their stress levels and was not well suited to inspecting [their] provisions”.
“Leaders who found themselves the only senior leader within their school often reported feeling both isolated and overwhelmed,” the report will add.
Tes revealed earlier this month that Ofsted inspectors will undertake new training on how to inspect small schools after a small-schools reference group was set up to enhance the watchdog’s understanding of how they function.
Significant increase in reports of unsupportive MATs and LAs
Reports of multi-academy trusts and local authorities that are not supportive of school leaders have “increased significantly” in 2023, the report will also flag.
“Some of the most traumatic calls we receive are from school leaders who feel bullied and/or intimidated by those who have direct authority over them within a trust, governing body or local authority,” the report will reveal.
“In the very worst cases, this culminates in an attempt to oust the school leader from their post through malevolent intimidation,” the report will say.
Headrest will add that it is “alarming that the number of callers citing such situations has increased significantly in 2023”.
Lack of confidence in leaders of all levels of experience
A lack of confidence is felt by those across all levels of leadership experience, the report will also say.
“Imposter syndrome” is a common feeling for new headteachers, while experienced leaders report being in an “abyss of self-doubt”, the report will reveal, adding that “many headteachers are leaving the profession due to poor wellbeing”.
“As a team we worry there are too many good and dedicated practitioners who are being pushed to breaking point,” Headrest will warn.
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “We aim to always carry out that work in a way that is sensitive to the pressures faced by leaders and staff, but we cannot lose our focus on children and learners.
“As the report notes, we have already made several changes to make sure our inspections are more considerate of school leaders’ and staff welfare.
“But we know we still need to do more to rebuild and strengthen confidence in our work, and that’s the spirit behind our Big Listen, starting next month.
“We really want to hear from parents, children, heads, teachers and other professionals - to help shape the way we work in future. We would hope that no one pre-judges the outcome.”
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