Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has faced heckles and chants during her speech at the NEU teaching union conference for comments she made about Ofsted.
Speaking in Bournemouth this afternoon, Ms Phillipson said it was “time for Ofsted to turn a corner”, adding: “To be supportive of inspection is not to believe it cannot be better.”
But the line was met with anger from some delegates at the conference, who began to shout that Ofsted was “not welcome”.
Those chanting were eventually asked to leave the room, which led to a protest outside, with chants of “What do we want? No more Ofsted! When do we want it? Now” breaking out.
Yesterday, NEU president Daniel Kebede said that Ofsted “is and always has been a failed project” and was “absent without leave during the pandemic”.
But today, Mr Kebede told delegates they were acting “like children” as chants continued after the close of Ms Phillipson’s speech.
The union’s joint general secretary Kevin Courtney took to the stage after Ms Phillipson’s speech and said that while the NEU believed Ofsted was a “toxic brand” and “had to go”, it would engage in a “serious way” with politicians that wanted to engage with it.
Speaking about Ofsted, Ms Phillipson had said: “To be supportive of inspection, is not to believe it cannot be better. For one thing, it is hardly surprising if the Ofsted we need tomorrow is different from the Ofsted we needed 30 years ago.”
She added: “Multi-academy trusts have become central to how many schools are run and how they perform, but inspection of them is missing.
“At the same time, and in too many cases, local authorities have responsibilities that matter, but without the powers to deliver. All of that has to change. Ofsted should be the champion of every teacher who excels, the ally of every teacher keen to do better by the children they teach.”
But she stopped short of saying Ofsted should be scrapped, which Labour had previously called for back in 2019.
Asked by journalists afterwards how she felt about the heckling, Ms Phillipson said: “If people don’t want to listen, that’s their choice, but we have a very clear plan for change.”
Pressed on Labour’s plans to reform Ofsted, she said there needed to be “greater support” for teachers to make change where things were not going well, and added: “I’m open to discussing what that looks like and want to engage with teachers, school leaders and parents.”
In the rest of her speech to the conference, Ms Phillipson said the government’s policies were “devoid of ideas”.
She added that “now was not the time to end free testing” following the government’s decision to end free lateral flow Covid tests for school staff and pupils from 1 April, and that society needed to be “alert to the risk of rising infections”.
She said that under a Labour government, she would introduce breakfast clubs for every pupil - alongside extra-curricular activities - and boost investment in early years provision.
