The changes to the Ofsted school inspection system that were announced on Monday do not go far enough. A new mechanism for reinspection, when a school is judged inadequate due to weak safeguarding, will be introduced following the death of Ruth Perry, who took her own life after the primary school she led in Reading was downgraded. This and other adjustments may slightly ameliorate the experience of being inspected. But it is disappointing that Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, and the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, have rejected the opportunity that the tragedy presented to overhaul a system that has outlived its usefulness.
Teachers, headteachers and their unions have complained for years about the toll taken by Ofsted inspections, particularly since the imposition of a framework under which inspectors attempt a detailed evaluation of the quality of education. Years of underinvestment and the pandemic have further raised pressure on schools. Perry’s death in January, following a report which judged her school inadequate, led to an outpouring of frustration. Her family’s conviction that Perry took her life due to stress was echoed by school leaders across England who have found inspections close to unbearable.
