Commenting on a letter sent today to Bridget Phillipson by the general secretaries of NEU, NASUWT, ASCL and NAHT, asking her to delay the introduction of revised inspection arrangements to the start of the 2026/27 academic year, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The current system of school inspection is driving a workload and mental health crisis in schools and badly letting parents and carers down. We call, alongside other unions today, on the Secretary of State for Education to intervene urgently.
“Ofsted’s plans to implement the rollout of a new system in November will only succeed in inspiring a sense of panic across schools. The timescale the inspectorate in imposing on schools highlights how out of touch Ofsted remains. The inspectorate continues to demonstrate a disregard for supporting the mental wellbeing of school staff. It is simply not credible that significant, useful and meaningful change can have been made in the time allowed.
“The date set for the introduction of the revised inspection arrangements must be delayed to the beginning of the 2026/27 academic year, to ensure the time is taken to get change right.”
The full text of the letter follows:
Dear Secretary of State,
We write to express our profound concern about the implications of revised arrangements for inspection reform addressed in your letter to the Chief Inspector of 11 June.
As you will be aware, in its consultation document on its proposals for changes to inspection, Ofsted confirmed that there should be a notice period of the equivalent of one term between the publication of its post-consultation response and inspection materials and the start of inspections under the revised regime. Ofsted recognised that such notice was necessary to ensure that ‘providers and inspectors feel well prepared for the new inspections.’
In light of Ofsted’s decision to delay the publication of its consultation response until September, providers and their staff would be faced with a considerably shorter notice period if revised inspection arrangements are implemented in November as set out in your letter.
This timescale would create wholly unacceptable pressures on schools and their staff. While it may be the case that the number of schools subject to an inspection with less than one term’s notice would be relatively small, it is important to recognise that many more schools might reasonably anticipate an inspection during the shortened notice period and therefore be impacted adversely by it. In any event, every school would need to allocate time to consider the implications for them of the new arrangements before they were implemented. Given widespread concern about the impact of inspection on workforce wellbeing and workload, proceeding with inspection reform on this basis would be entirely unjustifiable.
We would further note that inspectors would have far less time than originally anticipated to familiarise themselves with reformed inspection arrangements and the expectations it would place on them.
Moreover, we are concerned about the implications of implementation of reformed arrangements in November for the integrity of the consultation exercise. You will be aware that in his letter to you of 11 June, the Chief Inspector restated his view that the consultation exercise should be ‘meaningful’ and that its ‘proposals were not set in stone.’ We do not believe that these commitments can be honoured in these circumstances. If the responses to the consultation exercise indicate that significant revisions to Ofsted’s original proposals are required, then it is not clear how they could be made in the very short period of time that would be available.
Therefore, we call on you to move the date you have set for the introduction of revised inspection arrangements to the beginning of the 2026/27 academic year at the earliest so that the commitments given by the Chief Inspector can be met.
Further, we remain clear that IET member organisations must be fully involved in the analysis of the outcomes of Ofsted’s consultation and in the development of any revisions to these proposals that the consultation responses indicate are necessary.
Yours sincerely
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, NEU
Matt Wrack, Acting General Secretary, NASUWT
Pepe Di'Iasio, General Secretary, ASCL
Paul Whiteman, General Secretary, NAHT