by Abigail Roch
A school leader’s union has taken legal action against Ofsted amidst growing concern that the new inspection proposal is likely to harm the wellbeing of teachers and staff.
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has requested a judicial review of the new school report cards which are due to be introduced in November, to “protect the mental and physical health of school leaders”.
NAHT General Secretary Paul Whiteman said: “School leaders are deeply concerned that the new report cards could result in an even worse system than before, with potentially disastrous impact on workload, wellbeing and retention.
“We have tried engaging with Ofsted and explaining this, but so far these concerns have fallen largely on deaf ears. We have been left with little choice other than to pursue this action.”
This decision comes after Professor Julia Waters – whose sister and headteacher Ruth Perry took her own life following an Ofsted inspection in 2023 – asked that the new system be delayed.
An Ofsted Spokesperson 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.”
Ofsted is planning to inspect schools using a five-point grading scale (from lowest to highest): causing concern; attention needed; secure; strong; exemplary. These grades will be given to assess key aspects – including behaviour and attendance, quality of education, inclusion and safeguarding, personal development, and leadership and management.
Ofsted’s Chief Inspector Martyn Oliver said these new report cards will “replace the simplistic overall judgement with a suite of grades, giving parents much more detail and better identifying the strengths and areas for improvement for a school.”
On 3 February this year, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson stated that budgets of up to £100,000 per school would help the 600 “stuck” schools in England which receive negative judgements from Ofsted year after year.
She added that report cards would provide “rich, granular insight” to deliver “tailored” support for struggling schools.
But Mr Whiteman recently told BBC’s Breakfast that: “What this report card does with the traffic light system is simply replace the reductive description of a school and doesn’t really get underneath the surface of a school and its real strengths and weaknesses.”