Ofsted’s menacing inspections are still disastrous. Schools should answer to the communities they serve

For all the supposed improvements, inspectors still obsess over statistics and adjectives, but surely school success depends on teachers and parents

The government regulation of state schools by Ofsted in England is a fiasco. Following the 2023 suicide of the Reading headteacher Ruth Perry, after her school was downgraded from outstanding to inadequate, Ofsted appears to have referred to a dictionary. Single words were replaced by colour-coded report cards, which use a wider range of different adjectives to grade abstractions such as personal development and wellbeing, achievement and leadership. Never has the concept of “education” seemed so empty.

The reaction of the teaching profession to the new code has itself been devastating, as highlighted in a recent survey that showed more than half of headteachers in England polled after their schools were inspected under Ofsted’s new regime are now considering early retirement as a result of the experience. This sense of misery was also illustrated in a poll conducted by the National Education Union one year on from the introduction of the new framework, with 65% saying it is the same as or worse than before.

It is no wonder that the leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, Paul Whiteman, has called for an immediate halt to Ofsted’s visits. “The clear theme emerging across all the feedback we have received is that this Ofsted framework is even more stressful than the one that preceded it,” he said. “It poses a real and present danger to the well-being and mental health of school leaders and teachers, possibly even a risk to life.” Even the new education secretary, Lucy Powell, has said she takes the reaction to the inspections “incredibly seriously” and said she wanted to see a system that was “more supportive” to staff. We have yet to see what that means.

Schools used to be local institutions that belonged to the community. Bringing state-maintained schools under central government control in England and Wales began in 1988 with Thatcher’s national curriculum reforms. In 1992, John Major created Ofsted to enforce it. He also began a national league table of secondary schools, which were to be judged by their exam results. It is hardly surprising that the whole dynamic of secondary education became “to teach the exam”. Sports, art, music were shamelessly sidelined.

By the time of Tony Blair, the resulting avalanche of Whitehall regulations was said by a teacher friend to fill a wheelbarrow every school term. Vocational and technical education were demoted in favour of academic and university-oriented subjects. The nation’s performance in the international Pisa league tables became as competitive as the Olympic Games.

Now, Ofsted inspectors descend on schools, usually once in four years, with usually just 24 hours’ notice. They are armed not with advice or money but with exam statistics and adjectives. They have reduced the teaching profession to a production line.

The trauma experienced by staff has been an inevitable consequence. Perry’s sister says she has been contacted by 12 other heads saying they too have felt suicidal after glib dismissals of their work. How could such a brief inspection take account of considerations as important as a child’s health, the local job requirements and tutoring resources? An inspector merely needed to sniff the air, decide “not good enough” and stroll back to Whitehall. Would we judge our doctors, lawyers or bankers that way?

The naivety of the inspection regime is a classic of overcentralised government, of the relentless search for standardisation. I can find no evidence that relates a pupil’s or a school’s exam results to an individual’s wealth or happiness in later life. They are measuring for measuring’s sake.

The one great fault of comprehensive education in Britain from the 1960s onwards was its devoting so much of the secondary syllabus to academic subjects. Powell has already shown herself open to reforming this. She has banned GCSE preparation from the first two years of secondary school, and is determined to end the denial of vocational education for those who fail maths GCSE. Her proposal to teach subjects such as health and social care is welcome. So too is her enthusiasm for oracy and verbal confidence. If Powell means what she has said, she must put an end to Michael Gove’s generation of ministers and their obsession with academic league tables and to preparing pupils for university.

Possibly Britain’s currently most disgraceful statistic is that since the outbreak of Covid about 20% of children in England in year 9 – their mid-teens – are “persistently absent” from school. We need look no further for the cause of the current Neets crisis. The failure is glaring.

The success of a school, primary or secondary, is largely a function of its relationship with its local area. It depends on the reputation of its staff and their collaboration with parents. When schools were locally owned and run prior to Thatcher’s nationalisation these relationships were built into their governance. A school’s success was a feature of local pride. Of course this meant some worked better than others. But I find it significant that the UK was recently rated only the 16th “happiest country” in Europe. In part I sense it reflects its distant and heavily centralised public sector.

Nobody needs Ofsted. Andy Burnham should move to devolve schools to the communities they serve and on which they should in future depend. Inspecting the professional quality of their work should be a local matter. We need only to look abroad to see that this works.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org