Headteachers fear the watchdog’s inspection proposals will increase high-stakes accountability and pressure on school staff.
A legal battle has begun between one of Britain’s major teaching unions and the education watchdog, Ofsted, over controversial proposals to overhaul school inspections in England.
On Friday, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) formally lodged a judicial review claim at the High Court, asserting that Ofsted’s new “report card” system has not been subject to sufficient consultation and risks harming the mental wellbeing of headteachers and staff. The timing of the legal challenge comes just ahead of the NAHT’s annual conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, where the matter is expected to dominate proceedings.
Under the new plans, initially revealed in February, schools would no longer be given a single overall grade but would instead be evaluated across eight to ten areas using a five-colour rating scale. The spectrum ranges from red, labelled “causing concern”, to orange for “attention needed”, and through to green, which includes “secure”, “strong”, and “exemplary”.
The union argues that such a shift represents an increase in graded sub-judgements, which may intensify what is already seen as a high-stakes environment. A motion being presented at the NAHT’s conference on Saturday will call for outright opposition to the proposed report cards, urging delegates to support all “legal and industrial options” to defend the mental and physical health of school leaders.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, voiced his frustration, stating: “Somehow the focus on school leader mental health and wellbeing has got lost along the way during Ofsted’s consultation process. We must not forget that the catalyst for these changes was the tragic death of Ruth Perry and widespread acceptance that the inspection regime was placing school leaders under intolerable pressure.”
The memory of Ruth Perry looms heavily over the debate. The headteacher of Caversham Primary School in Reading tragically took her own life in January 2023, shortly after her school was downgraded from “outstanding” to “inadequate” due to safeguarding concerns. Her death prompted a national reckoning over the impact of Ofsted inspections on school leaders’ mental health and helped push the Government to announce last year that single-word judgments would be scrapped.
Yet critics argue that the new multi-rated “report card” system could be even more detrimental. Speaking in support of the union’s legal challenge, Professor Julia Waters, Mrs Perry’s sister, said: “I share the frustration of headteachers. Everyone agrees that schools and teachers should be accountable for the quality of the education they provide. But this new system, proposed for itself by Ofsted, could be worse than the flawed and dangerous process it replaces.”
In an open letter earlier this week, Prof Waters and other education professionals urged Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to delay implementation of the new framework, warning it risks entrenching the same problems under a different guise.
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Mr Whiteman said the union had attempted to engage constructively with Ofsted throughout the consultation process, but felt their concerns had been “largely ignored”. “We have been left with little choice other than to pursue this action,” he added.
Ofsted, however, maintains that wellbeing has been a central consideration in shaping the reforms. A spokeswoman for the inspectorate said: “Supporting the mental health of those we inspect is an important part of the development of our proposals and we are already hearing positive feedback through our inspection tests.”
She went on to add that Ofsted’s legal team had “responded robustly” to NAHT’s claim, describing it as “plainly untenable”, and confirmed that the watchdog would “resist and seek costs” if proceedings move forward.
As the debate continues and legal arguments take shape, the issue of how to balance accountability with compassion in school inspections remains far from resolved.
