A letter has been sent today (Tuesday), to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, signed by school leaders, national organisations, ex-school inspectors, trade unions and Professor Julia Waters, whose sister, headteacher Ruth Perry died in 2023. This letter is being sent in response to the publication of Ofsted’s final proposals for a new school inspection system in England.
The coalition argues that despite the warnings issued in its previous letter sent to Phillipson in April of this year, Ofsted has failed to learn the lessons of Ruth Perry’s death. The new system continues to pose a risk to the health and wellbeing of teachers and school leaders, and the letter raises concerns about the reliability, inaccuracy and consistency of inspection results.
The letter asks Bridget Phillipson to delay the roll out of Ofsted’s final proposals and work with the coalition to create meaningful reform.
The full text of the letter is as follows:
Dear Bridget Phillipson,
Despite the delays and repeated warnings from across the education sector, from suicide prevention experts to serving headteachers and beyond, Ofsted’s latest proposals continue to pose a risk to the health and wellbeing of teachers and school leaders.
Today’s announcement is deeply disappointing and extremely worrying, as it is clear Ofsted have failed to learn the lessons from the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. The proven life-threatening risks associated with a grades-based schools accountability system, based on public shaming and the fear of high stakes consequences, have not changed.
In addition, in failing to establish an independent complaints process, the inspectorate has refused to address legitimate concerns about its own accountability. Ofsted have once again proven that they are unwilling and unable to reform themselves.
This coalition, made up of mental health experts, trade unions and school governors, wrote to you in April, urging you to use the opportunity caused by Ofsted’s added delay, to create an inspection system that is reliable, fair and, above all, safe. What is now being proposed completely fails to deliver.
So, we are writing to you again, to urge you to intervene and work with us, before it is too late to change course.
We urge you to halt the roll-out of these proposals because of our continuing concerns about the reliability, accuracy and consistency of inspection results and about the dangerous, negative impact of a punitive, grades-based inspection system on the welfare of the workforce.
Without meaningful reform, this new system will continue to drive excessive pressure, ill-health and stress for the profession, with the very real risk of causing further, preventable deaths. We call on your government to work with the education profession and suicide prevention experts to bring about meaningful, root-and-branch reform of the school inspection system. Only meaningful reform and engagement can stem the unsustainable exodus of talented educators from the profession and so ensure that all children in their care are able to achieve and thrive.
Yours,
Maggie Abrahart – ForThe100
Dr. Kulvarn Atwal – Principal Learning Leader, The Thinking Schools Federation
Edmund Barnett-Ward – parent campaigner
Pepe Di’lasio - general secretary, Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)
Daniel Kebede – general secretary, National Education Union (NEU)
Joanna Lane BA Oxon – CEO Christopher Lane Trust
Dr. Sean Lang – Chair of Governors, the Queens’ Federation
Adrian Lyons – former HMI
Janet Newsham, Chair of national Hazards Campaign and Coordinator of Greater Manchester Hazards Centre Ltd.
Frank Norris MBE FCCT – board member of InnovateHer, Joint Lead of Education Leaders’ Forum for Forum Strategy
Dr. Deborah Outhwaite – Chair of BELMAS
Hilda Palmer – Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK), joint author of Work-related Suicide: a qualitative analysis of recent cases with recommendations for reform
Prof. Jane Perryman – Professor of Sociology of Education, IOE, University College London
Prof. Colin Richards – former HMI
Nina Smith – Churchill Fellow Suicide Prevention and Lecturer in Mantal Health and SEND at Edge Hill University
Paul Vittles – Chief facilitators, Zero Suicide Society Transformation Programme
Prof. Julia Waters – sister of Ruth Perry and Professor of French, University of Reading
Prof. Sarah Waters – Professor of French Studies, University of Leeds, joint author of Work-related Suicide: a qualitative analysis of recent cases with recommendations for reform
Paul Whiteman – general secretary, National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)
Ian Widdows – researcher, former secondary school head and founder of the National Association of Secondary Moderns (NASM)
Marcia Willis Stewart KC (Hons) - human rights lawyer and legal representative of Ruth Perry’s family at the inquest into her death
Matt Wrack – general secretary, NASUWT