Teachers in Manchester have criticised what they claim is a 'broken' Ofsted system following the death of a headteacher.
The tragic circumstances surrounding Ruth Perry's death have made headlines around the world. Her family said an inspection at her school - Caversham Primary School in Reading - had turned her into 'an absolute shadow of herself'.
Sister Professor Julia Waters said inspectors claimed a boy doing a 'floss' dance move, from the video game Fortnite, was evidence of the sexualisation of children at the school and that the 53-year-old took her own life waiting for a negative Ofsted report.
The tragedy has sparked an outcry across the profession, with the National Education Union; school leaders' union NAHT; and the Association of School and College Leaders calling for inspections to be halted.
One headteacher in Berkshire, Flora Cooper, said she would refuse access to inspectors after receiving the call from them earlier this week. West Berkshire council later confirmed a visit would go ahead as planned.
Photos later emerged of Flora wearing a black armband in tribute to Ruth and holding a photo of her displayed at the school gates.
Manchester teacher Lee Parkinson has shared a petition set up calling for an inquiry into the inspection at Caversham, which has amassed 170,000-plus signatures in less than a week.
After being inundated with stories from fellow teachers and headteachers about what he claims is a 'toxic inspection process', he decided to set up a form on which teachers can share their experiences anonymously.
It has so far received almost 2,000 reports, most of them critical of the inspection process.
Many have accused Ofsted of creating a culture that's 'nothing short of toxic'; claim leaders are working under 'enormous amounts of pressure'; and that the 'broken' system 'needs to be abolished'.
Mr Parkinson, who teaches at Davyhulme Primary School in Trafford, and shares videos on his popular ICT with Mr P Facebook and Instagram pages, said he's received numerous messages since Ruth's death.
"I think it's clear by most, if not all, people in education is that Ofsted in its current form is not a force for good in education, whether directly or indirectly, they are up there as one of the main reasons why education is in such a rut at the minute with the recruitment, retention, workload, well-being issues that plague our profession," he said in a recent video, viewed thousands of times.
He alleged the system is unfair, saying it's down to a 'roll of the dice as to whether you get a fair inspector on the right day' and how 'power had gone to the heads' of some officials, with seemingly no accountability.
"You'll never convince me that Ofsted in its current form is the best way of judging schools and holding them to account," he said.
"It seems to me that Ofsted's agenda at the minute is purely focused on justifying their own existence, because during the pandemic they were found to do absolutely nothing to support schools and children.
"I hope there are going to be discussions at every single level about how we can overhaul Ofsted so it can be a more positive force for good in education."
His suggestions for improvement include binning Ofsted grades altogether as there's no reason for any school 'to be defined by a word or two words', when a report showing a school's strengths and weaknesses would be enough.
He thinks staff should 'not play into the system', highlighting their positive gradings with huge banners outside school when on another day, with a different inspector, the judgement could so easily have gone the other way.
Reiterating his comments to the Manchester Evening News, Mr Parkinson said: "I’ve been inundated with similar stories after sharing the tragic news of Ruth Perry. That’s what made me create an anonymous form for people to share, it’s had nearly 2,000 responses in less than two days.
"As you can see from some of the stories, it is clear that Ofsted in its current form is not a force for good in education. Every teacher understands there needs to be a level of accountability and despite what some people think this is not teachers moaning that they have to be inspected.
"The reason teaching is in such a bad state as far as workload and wellbeing is mainly because of Ofsted, whether that is directly or indirectly.
"The levels of inconsistency between inspectors creates the fear that drives workload in schools. Inspectors don’t seem to be accountable to anyone so can go into a school with an agenda and reduce a school to a word that has such a damaging impact on the staff who work tremendously hard."
He added: "As I always say, we need a level of accountability absolutely, but Ofsted’s current model is not working. They should remove grades and just report on strengths and weaknesses of a school which would be more than enough for parents and they should be transparent making every training, guidance and feedback they provide to schools widely available so schools know exactly what is expected and any rogue inspectors can be held accountable.
"It doesn’t help that the government continues to chronically underfund education expecting schools to do more with less, which then adds more pressure as Ofsted are expecting a Lamborghini when we’ve had the budget of a Corsa."
Following reports of Ruth's death, readers reacted with shock and sadness, including dozens who work in education.
Responding to the news on our Manchester Family Facebook page, one said he knows only too well the pressures staff are under.
"What a shame," she said. "But I can understand why she did it as I've been very close the last seven weeks and hadn't even had an inspection or downgraded, it was because of a malicious complaint.
"I can breathe again now but it's been the worst and most stressful time of my life."
Matthew Purves, Ofsted’s regional director for the South East, said: “We were deeply saddened by Ruth Perry’s tragic death. Our thoughts remain with Mrs Perry’s family, friends and everyone in the Caversham Primary School community.”
The M.E.N has approached Ofsted for further comment, as well as the Department for Education.
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