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Ofsted is a “driver of misery” and a danger to safe working conditions for school staff, the incoming president of the NAHT school leaders’ union will say.

Dave Woods will also say in his maiden speech today that education staff are now “frontline fighters” as “dark forces of hate” mobilise within society.

Speaking at the , which starts today, Mr Woods will tell leaders that all education staff “embody a sense of hope”, seeking to improve the lives of their pupils despite “insurmountable challenges”.

Ofsted ‘a raiser of stress levels’

Mr Woods, who is headteacher at Beaconsfield Primary and Nursery School in West London, will say: “Ofsted would try to have us believe that they raise school standards and that now they will also improve inclusion.”

His view is that “they do nothing of the sort” and that it is “committed, dedicated, tireless school staff who improve standards and achievements despite the interventions of Ofsted, ministers and bureaucrats”.

Mr Woods will add: “Ofsted is nothing more than a driver of misery, a raiser of stress levels and a compounding factor in increased workloads, premature retirements and, sadly, as stated by courts, a danger to safe working conditions for school staff.”

‘Listen to and trust leaders’

Mr Woods, who grew up in Sydney, Australia, will also call on politicians to “listen to and trust the leaders in our schools” and invest in schools to deliver “a world-class education system, a leading and cutting-edge economy”.

He will tell the NAHT conference that this investment is needed to “throw off the yoke of endemic poverty, shattered dreams and wasted ambition” resulting from austerity and increasingly difficult economic conditions.

Total public spending on education in the UK was approximately 4.1 per cent of GDP in 2024-25. It peaked at around 5.6 per cent in 2010-11.

Education spending in the UK is still lagging behind countries such as Finland, he will say, which has consistently invested between 5 and 6 per cent on education for the past 25 years.

He will point out that Finland has no formal inspectorate system and does not rank schools in tables.

‘Communities against each other’

Mr Woods, who will start his role as president in September, will also tell the conference: “The world stands at a precipice, with the ‘dark forces of hate’ mobilising and organising all around the world seeking to turn communities against each other, rather than working together for common solutions.”

He will call on education staff to “stand strong” and “to hold firm against the forces of hate that would try to destroy the hope we cling to, by turning society inwards on each other”.

“All of us in education are now frontline fighters standing up for decency, respect, civility and the rights of all to live free from discrimination,” he will add.

Mr Woods will conclude by saying: “We must move on from these old, failed notions of a ‘confrontational’, ‘done-to’ model laced with threats, harassment and intimidation of school leaders through league tables, increased formal testing and an unloved and unwanted inspectorate system.”

He has chosen Remembering Srebrenica as his charity partner for his presidential year.

Srebrenica in Bosnia was the site of genocide in 1995, when more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered.

Reflecting on the choice ahead of his speech, Mr Woods said: “We see the rise of hate speech, far-right rhetoric and blaming of ethnic and religious groups all over western society at present.

“It is vital and important that as NAHT president, and having seen the consequences of this in Srebrenica, I work to support these aims to educate against hate and campaign to prevent actions leading to future genocides.”

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