For more than 30 years, Ofsted’s toxic regime has been driving school leaders and teachers out of the profession and fuelling a mental health crisis among school staff.
What can school leaders do?
The Beyond Ofsted Inquiry has called for an immediate pause to all routine Ofsted inspections to allow time to rest and regain the trust of the profession. Duty of care must be any inspectorate’s top priority. School leaders can support this by:
Removing reference to Ofsted
Remove all references to your school’s Ofsted grading from banners on your school gates and letter heads. Don’t mention it at parents’ evenings/open days.
Stepping down from Ofsted roles
We urge you, alongside our sister union the NAHT, to step down from serving as Ofsted inspectors.
How might school leaders best prepare their school for – and support colleagues during – an Ofsted inspection?
If you are currently in the Ofsted ‘window’ and expect to be inspected during 2024-25, you might want to take account of the indicated changes to the EIF and the introduction of report cards. Specifically, it may be wise to focus on:
- Identifying where your school sits on each of the four strands in the current framework, addressing these individually, and considering what direction you want your school or area of practice to take in the future
- Considering the breadth of practice and pupil experience that inspectors are able to view or access on the two days on which the inspection will ordinarily fall - Tuesday and Wednesday
- Focusing on inclusion and, in particular, your work with particular pupil cohorts, especially those with SEND or who are disadvantaged (notably those in receipt of the Pupil Premium) or who struggle to access the curriculum for any other reason
- Your approach to attending to the wellbeing needs of learners, staff and the wider school community
- Retaining a focus on curriculum, in terms of its breadth, intent, sequencing and accessibility
- Being clear about how you are addressing specific challenges, for instance around attendance or recruitment and retention or other contextual challenges that are impacting on your school