Education unions may encourage school leader members to leave their role as Ofsted inspectors if the watchdog does not introduce major changes to its proposed inspection system.
The Association of School and College Leaders and the NAHT school leaders’ union have written to the education secretary today to inform her of further steps they will take should their concerns over school report cards not be addressed.
Both ASCL and the NAHT will now consider encouraging their members to withdraw their service from Ofsted as inspectors in the autumn term, unless there are “changes to both the timeframe of implementation and to the five-point grading scale”.
“This would be an unprecedented step for ASCL and NAHT and underlines the strength of feeling about the proposed reforms. We very much hope this is not an action we have to take,” the unions wrote to Bridget Phillipson today.
Schools left with ‘unfeasibly narrow window of time’
It comes after the two unions, along with the NEU and NASUWT, wrote to the education secretary yesterday to warn that giving less than one term’s notice of plans for the new inspections will place “unacceptable pressure” on schools and teachers.
Ofsted is planning to inspect schools on a new five-point grading scale when it launches its report cards later this year.
But the plans have been met with major criticism from the sector, and Ofsted has already agreed to adapt some of the proposals, including rewriting its controversial inspection toolkits.
Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver has confirmed that the watchdog’s full response to its consultation on the new inspection framework will now be released in September rather than this summer.
Bridget Phillipson wrote to Sir Martyn to call the delay “disappointing” and emphasised that the chief inspector should deliver to “expected timescales” and start inspecting in November.
The NAHT and ASCL wrote in their letter today that Ofsted’s delay will leave schools with an “unfeasibly narrow window of time in which to prepare for a completely new and radically different inspection framework”.
ASCL: ‘We have exhausted the potential for compromise’
While schools are legally powerless to oppose inspections, many leaders serve as inspectors on a part-time basis and could withdraw their services as an act of protest.
The letter further sets out the unions’ concerns that Ofsted’s delay will “significantly add to workload pressures, negatively affect leaders’ and teachers’ wellbeing and mental health, and further undermine trust in the proposed framework”.
It also criticised both Ofsted and the DfE’s plan to begin inspecting in November as “entirely unacceptable”.
ASCL general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said that the timetable for implementation has “actually got worse rather than better”.
“It feels as though we have exhausted the potential for compromise through discussion, and that we have little option other than to consider this more direct form of action.”
His concerns were echoed by Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, who said the union has to ”protect” its members but adds that he “sincerely hopes this will not be necessary”.
An Ofsted spokesperson said that the inspectorate “exists to keep children safe and raise standards” and its “inspectors do vital work to improve children’s lives”.
“It is disappointing that unions are taking legal action and using disruption tactics to frustrate our vital work.”
Tes understands that the inspectorate has more than 2,000 school leaders currently on its waiting list to be trained as Ofsted inspectors.
