Ofsted inspectors have been accused of a “reign of terror” over teachers and school leaders in England, as a second major teaching union backed a campaign to abolish the schools watchdog.
Delegates to the NASUWT annual conference voted for a motion describing Ofsted as a “major contributor to the excessive workload and bureaucracy that blights the lives of teachers” and instructed the union to campaign for its abolition and replacement.
Martin Hudson, a primary school teacher from Newcastle who moved the motion, said there was a “genuine and deep-seated fear of Ofsted” among many teachers.
“For the best interests of teachers, for the health and wellbeing of teachers, Ofsted must go,” Hudson said.
Several speakers made reference to the death of Ruth Perry, a Berkshire headteacher whose family said killed herself this year after a critical Ofsted inspection. The inspection resulted in Perry’s primary school being downgraded from Ofsted’s highest rating of “outstanding” to its lowest grade, “inadequate”.
Hudson said that when a colleague’s school was graded inadequate by Ofsted, it left teachers with an “unbearable” sense of failure. “We know, as teachers and trade unionists, that obsessive monitoring and placing subjective one-word judgments on teachers and schools has never improved standards and never will,” Hudson said.
Gherie Weldeyesus, a teacher from north London, told the union’s delegates in Glasgow: “Let’s end this reign of terror – abolish Ofsted.”
Hank Roberts, a delegate from London, said it was no longer enough to call for Ofsted’s reform, accusing it of “mercilessly bullying” teachers.
“This has been going on for years. We’ve been condemning it regularly. Clearly, this is not enough. They don’t give a stuff what you think. What they care about is what you do, and we have to do a lot more,” Roberts said.
The motion also calls for an immediate freeze on Ofsted school inspections, in order to carry out an assessment of the mental health impact on teachers and heads.
Union officials said the motion was the first time the traditionally more moderate NASUWT had voted to seek to abolish Ofsted outright rather than reform it.
Last week, the National Education Union’s annual conference also voted to campaign for the abolition of Ofsted and Estyn, the Welsh school inspectorate, and to replace their inspections with more collaborative ways of helping schools improve.
After the NEU vote, Julia Waters, Perry’s sister, sent the NEU a message of thanks, saying: “Ruth’s name must not be lost in vain.”
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, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
