A primary school headteacher with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been paid damages in a landmark disability discrimination case against Ofsted, after her request to postpone an inspection over a relapse in her symptoms was refused.
Kelly Vaughan, the head at Pool Hayes primary school in Willenhall, in the West Midlands, accused England’s schools watchdog of failing to put in place “reasonable adjustments” to accommodate her disability.
Ofsted apologised for the distress caused and has since agreed to introduce mandatory equality, diversity and inclusion training for inspectors and other staff. It will also meet with disabilities charities to help with organisational change.
However, the schools inspectorate said Vaughan’s request for a deferral was refused in line with Ofsted policy and that a number of reasonable adjustments had been made during the inspection.
The case, which was settled out of court, has raised fresh concerns about the culture at Ofsted, which has been widely criticised and subject to scrutiny after the death of Ruth Perry in January 2023.
Perry, who was the headteacher of Caversham primary in Reading, killed herself in January 2023 after her school was downgraded from the highest Ofsted ranking to its lowest. Berkshire’s senior coroner found that the inspection had contributed to Perry’s death.
Vaughan, in the run-up to the Ofsted inspection, had been suffering from laryngitis, which caused a relapse of her MS symptoms, impairing her coordination and thought processes. She asked for the inspection to be deferred, but Ofsted refused.
According to the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), who supported her case, Vaughan struggled to respond quickly to inspectors’ demands for information during the inspection, explaining that her laryngitis, combined with her underlying MS, meant she was unable to think clearly and multitask. She was also critical of some of the conduct during the inspection.
Vaughan submitted a disability discrimination claim to the Central London county court, accusing Ofsted of breaches of the Equality Act 2010 including failing to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate her disability, harassment and discrimination.
“My last year was an extremely challenging one and no other education professional should go through the same thing,” she said. “As leaders and as professionals, we hope to be treated fairly by those who come to inspect us and unfortunately this hasn’t always been the case.
“I hope the changes won in my case help to ensure Ofsted deliver positive change in their wider culture as well as for other education professionals living with disabilities.”
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the distress Ms Vaughan describes. A number of reasonable adjustments were made during the inspection, including encouraging Ms Vaughan to be assisted during meetings, providing regular breaks and adjusting how we conducted the inspection.
“But we recognise the impact on Ms Vaughan. In response to this case, we have strengthened our guidance and training to make sure that inspectors can better support leaders with disabilities on inspection and consider any reasonable adjustments needed.”
Paul Whiteman, the NAHT general secretary, said the case showed how far Ofsted had to go to fix its “deeply entrenched” culture.
He said: “Ofsted’s refusal to listen and its determination to try to defend the actions of its inspectors for so long raises serious concerns and shows that despite the recent change in leadership the organisation has a very long way to go if it is to rebuild trust with the profession.”
The Labour government has said it will scrap Ofsted’s headline judgments, such as “inadequate” and “requires improvement”, and replace them with a report card system.
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
