Nearly two-thirds of school and college leaders believe the new Ofsted school inspections will be worse for their wellbeing than the old system, a poll shows.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), described the finding as “deeply worrying”, warning that the new inspection system, which includes report cards with a five-point grading scale across multiple areas, will deter people from becoming teachers and school leaders.
In the survey of 1,080 ASCL members in England, 74 per cent said they were not satisfied with Ofsted’s new inspection system, while 80 per cent said the timeline for the changes does not give them enough time to prepare.
New Ofsted system ‘deeply worrying’
Mr Di’Iasio said: “It is important to remember that these changes have been brought in following the suicide of a headteacher under the previous inspection system.
“The fact that the majority of school and college leaders believe the new system will be even worse for their wellbeing is therefore deeply worrying. On top of the human toll, there is the fact that this will deter people from becoming leaders and teachers, exacerbating a deep and chronic recruitment and retention crisis.”
He added: “There was an opportunity here to make a real difference to the working lives of educators. Instead that opportunity has been squandered, and we’re faced with a continuation of the bad old days dressed up in a new set of adjectives.”
In the poll, just 22 per cent of leaders said they felt the new report cards were fairer than schools being given single-word judgements.
Some 31 per cent said they were less fair, while 47 per cent said the new report cards would make no difference.
And 65 per cent of respondents said the new Ofsted school inspections would be worse for their wellbeing than the old system.
ASCL said it is now consulting with members on its executive committee and council over the next steps.
Ofsted confirmed earlier this month that it would push ahead with the introduction of the new report cards from November, despite calls to delay.
Threat of strike action
An overwhelming majority (89 per cent) of nearly 2,000 members of the NAHT school leaders’ union indicated at a meeting last week that they supported exploring strike options over Ofsted’s plans.
Parents have been more positive: seven out of 10 surveyed by YouGov said they preferred the new report cards to Ofsted’s current system.
Single-word judgements for schools were scrapped last year following criticism of the inspection system after the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Ms Perry took her own life in 2023 after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from the highest rating of “outstanding” to the lowest rating of “inadequate”, in relation to safeguarding concerns.
This month Professor Julia Walters, Ms Perry’s sister, said Ofsted’s new plans “still put school leaders at risk of public shaming”, and urged the education secretary to halt the rollout.
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