Why Ofsted is facing legal action over proposed changes to inspections - what you need to know

• Ofsted recently held a public consultation on proposed changes to how it inspects schools
• These include evaluating schools on more criteria using a colour-coded grading scale, and publishing their findings in a ‘report card’
• But one teaching union says it has now launched legal action against the possible changes
• It says they would make inspections worse rather than better for school staff

A union is taking legal action against the Government’s schools watchdog, over plans to shake up school inspections.

Ofsted recently held a public consultation on proposed changes to how it inspects schools, with submissions closing late last month. Its previous inspection system had attracted controversy in recent years, and overhauling it was one of the key education policies mooted by Labour after last year’s election win. It started by dropping its overall one-word ratings back in September, which had made national headlines after a coroner ruled that an inspection which saw her school downgraded contributed to the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry.

Under the proposal, schools would be inspected on at least nine different criteria rather than the current four. They would be given a grade on each using a new colour-coded 5-point scale, which will be published in a report card format available to parents.

But not everyone is happy with how the new system could look, including teaching unions, who have said the changes would make it “worse, not better”. One, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), has this month started legal proceedings, announcing that it has issued a claim for a judicial review.

So why exactly has NAHT taken this serious step, and what does Ofsted have to say about it? Here’s everything you need to know:

Why has legal action been launched?

The NAHT, a trade union for school leaders, said in a statement that it was concerned about the impact of the proposed inspection changes on the mental health and wellbeing of both head teachers and school staff. Ofsted’s plans for a new report card involved an increased number of graded sub-judgements, which school leaders feared would only increase “high-stakes accountability” and pressure.

Its plans could also lead to more schools receiving ongoing monitoring, the union claimed. Ofsted has previously said all schools with any evaluation area graded ‘attention needed’ would receive monitoring calls and visits to check that “timely action is being taken to raise standards”.

“Somehow the focus on school leader mental health and wellbeing has got lost along the way during Ofsted’s consultation process,” NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said. “We must not forget that the catalyst for these changes was the tragic death of Ruth Perry and widespread acceptance that the inspection regime was placing school leaders under intolerable pressure. However, there appears to have been very little thought given to the impact on the wellbeing of school leaders in the drawing up of these plans and the consultation that followed.”

School leaders feared the new report cards “could result in an even worse system than before, with potentially disastrous impact on workload, wellbeing and retention”, he continued. “We have tried engaging with Ofsted and explaining this, but so far these concerns have fallen largely on deaf ears. We have been left with little choice other than to pursue this action.”

The union said that its claim for judicial review argued that there was not enough consultation around the new proposed 5-point scale to grade schools, “as this element of the proposals was presented as final during Ofsted’s report card consultation”. It also claims that any other options were rejected, with no reference to wellbeing.

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What does Ofsted say?

In response to NAHT’s claims, an Ofsted spokesperson told the BBC that “supporting the mental health of those we inspect is an important part of the development of our proposals”. The watchdog said it was already hearing positive feedback through its inspection tests.

“Our legal team have responded robustly to NAHT,” they continued. “Their suggested claims are plainly untenable. If legal action is launched, we will resist and seek costs.”

Previously, Chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver said that the new report card system was designed to give parents much more detail - and better identify a school’s strengths and areas for improvement - than “simplistic overall judgements”.

“Our new top ‘exemplary’ grade will help raise standards, identifying world-class practice that should be shared with the rest of the country,” he continued. “And by quickly returning to monitor schools that have areas for improvement, we will ensure timely action is taken to raise standards.

“We also hope that this more balanced, fairer approach will reduce the pressure on professionals working in education, as well as giving them a much clearer understanding of what we will be considering on inspection.”

What do parents think about the proposal?

YouGov polling published in late March showed high levels of support from parents for Ofsted’s report card proposals. The survey - which although commissioned by Ofsted, was run independently - found that of more than a thousand parents asked, 79% said they already trusted what Ofsted said about a school in inspection reports.

Some 66% supported Ofsted continuing to grade schools on a scale - while just 10% said they were opposed. On the proposed changes (which were still out for consultation at the time), 78% of parents surveyed agreed the information in the report cards would be useful to them, while the same proportion said they would make it easy to compare schools.

Meanwhile, 86% found the report cards easy to understand, and 84% found the use of colour coding helpful. Overall, two out of three participants (67%) said they preferred the new report cards to the current inspection reports, while just 15% said they preferred the current reports.

Sir Martyn Oliver said at the time that they wanted to do things differently. “We will report on a much wider range of areas. Things that matter to parents. Things like behaviour, achievement, attendance, teaching and the curriculum, leadership and governance, and inclusion - really looking in detail at how schools make sure their pupils all have a sense of belonging, especially those who are disadvantaged, vulnerable, or have special educational needs.”

When the survey participants were asked which of the proposed evaluation areas for schools they considered to be the most useful, a little over half of them ranked behaviour and attitudes highest (51%), followed closely by personal development and well-being (48%), then safeguarding (41%), and achievement (35%).

“Report cards will help give a more balanced picture of schools. Because the best schools aren’t perfect and have areas where they could do better, and the schools which might be seen as ‘weaker’ will have aspects of their work that they do really well,” the Ofsted head continued. “In that way a school’s report card will be much closer to a child’s school report. Going back to my art teacher days, the one-word grade paints a monochrome picture of a school, we want to paint it in colour.”

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