‘Still intolerable’: teachers say Ofsted reforms haven’t fixed a system that puts lives at risk

Teachers’ leaders say Ofsted remains intolerable despite its recent overhaul, warning that the inspectorate’s new “report card” system has done nothing to lift the fear and pressure driving staff out of the profession. The National Education Union has branded the regime a rehashed version of a punitive, high-stakes system, with general secretary Daniel Kebede warning that its culture of fear fuels unsustainable workloads, damages mental health and has been shown to pose a risk to life — a reference to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry, whose inquest found an Ofsted inspection contributed to her taking her own life in January 2023.
The anger has only hardened since the reforms went live. A snap NEU poll of more than 1,500 teachers and leaders found many still reporting distress, anxiety and fear, while a separate survey showed more than 80% want the inspectorate replaced altogether. Fellow union NASUWT has declared Ofsted “beyond reform” and voted to campaign for it to be scrapped, and in September the National Association of Head Teachers called for a halt to graded inspections, arguing they pose a real and present danger to the wellbeing of school leaders and teachers. Ofsted, for its part, maintains the changes are in the best interests of children, parents and teachers, pointing to polling in which roughly seven in ten parents said they preferred the new report cards to the old inspection reports, with the large majority finding them easy to understand.