The Association of School and College Leaders is exploring legal action over Ofsted’s new inspection regime, the union has confirmed today.
ASCL could take the school watchdog to court over the potential impact of Ofsted’s incoming inspection framework on the mental health and wellbeing of leaders and staff.
The union’s announcement comes after the NAHT school leaders’ union took out a judicial review against Ofsted’s plans.
Vlog has asked ASCL if its legal action is separate from that of the NAHT. ASCL confirmed that it is “speaking with NAHT about their legal action as part of the process of exploring the options”.
ASCL members ‘gravely concerned’ about inspections
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of ASCL, said that the union does not take the step of considering legal action “lightly”, but its members are “gravely concerned about the stress and pressure likely to be generated by the new inspection system”.
ASCL’s decision to explore legal action follows findings that two-thirds of respondents feared the new system will be worse or much worse for their wellbeing than the old system.
The union said that its decision was also influenced by the carried out by Sinéad Mc Brearty, CEO of Education Support.
Ms Mc Brearty found that the “baseline stress level of school and college leaders is concerningly high” and that the revised framework remains high stakes in nature and “does not reduce the pressure on leaders”.
ASCL no longer asking members to step down as inspectors
ASCL will also submit a freedom of information request for the full results of the feedback from the education sector to Ofsted’s consultation on the new framework.
The union’s council called Ofsted’s current publication of the responses “wholly inadequate” and said they “lacked quantitative analysis”.
However, ASCL is no longer considering asking members who are Ofsted inspectors to withdraw their services, and will instead “gather evidence over the impact of the framework in practice”.
However, this could be reconsidered in future, the union confirmed.
An Ofsted spokesperson welcomed ASCL’s “sensible decision” not to ask members who work for Ofsted as inspectors to withdraw their services.
“We have had really positive feedback from our pilots and we’re confident that our new-look inspections will be well-received when they begin in November,” they said.
