鈥淭here is a risk of future deaths if there is only lip service paid to learning from tragedies like this.鈥
Coroner Heidi Connor issued this warning after she concluded that an Ofsted inspection contributed to Reading headteacher Ruth Perry taking her own life in January last year.
Long-held discontent over inspection exploded into an outpouring of anger. Heads wore black armbands and held a minute鈥檚 silence during inspections; staff protested at school gates. Police had to escort one inspector into a school visit.
The scrutiny tables had turned on Ofsted, and it was found wanting. Schools Week investigates the Ofsted accountability reforms 鈥
No more crusader
Spielman and Wilshaw
For a few years from 2014, the main Ofsted flashpoints were from the very public turf war between the inspectorate and the new regional school commissioners (see chapter one).
Amanda Spielman took over as chief inspector from Sir Michael Wilshaw in January 2017.
She had a shaky start after the education select committee took the rare step to reject her as the government鈥檚 favoured candidate.
She had led the exams regulator Ofqual, but MPs were concerned she had not been a teacher. Then education secretary Nicky Morgan appointed her anyway.
A committee member said Spielman showed a 鈥渓ack of passion鈥 for the job. But she would say this was misconstrued with her commitment to end the 鈥渃rusader language鈥 the sector was 鈥減retty exhausted by鈥 鈥 a nod to her more outspoken predecessor.
She promised more intelligent and responsible inspections. What children were being taught would be the focus, as opposed to the outcomes they got.
It certainly made her popular with the government. Nick Gibb, the former schools minister, recalls: 鈥淎manda Spielman was one of the great chief inspectors. She put the curriculum at the centre of the inspection framework, which is absolutely right.鈥
But the new framework was put on ice just months later when Covid hit in September 2019. After battling criticism about when to return, full inspections were back in autumn the following year.
Post-Covid downfall, why?
The framework was the same. But in the post-Covid world, something changed.
When asked how positively they felt about Ofsted (1 the most negative; 9 the most positive), 38 per cent of teachers in 2018 rated the inspectorate 3 or below.
By March this year, it was 67 per cent. A quarter of teachers gave Ofsted a 1.
Carol Dewhurst, the chief executive of the Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, says Ofsted was 鈥渃onstrained by a framework that didn鈥檛 want to take into account local context”.
“At times it held schools to account for societal changes: rising levels of SEND, mental health presenting in schools, behaviour 鈥 a lot brought in from beyond the school gate. It鈥檚 unsurprising it鈥檚 had a difficult time.鈥
The shift in opinion came as fewer schools were rated less than 鈥榞ood鈥 鈥 although the drawbridge had been pulled up somewhat on 鈥榦utstanding鈥.
One former adviser says it was a 鈥渃rystallisation of something brewing before Amanda. Covid and general stress on the system exacerbated it, but it was a catastrophe born of years of pressure building up in the accountability system鈥.
Spielman blames the government for the 鈥渞atcheting up of regulatory levers鈥, citing the 鈥榗oasting鈥 intervention measure. From September 2022, schools with successive 鈥榬equires improvement鈥 grades could be academised or rebrokered to a new trust.
鈥淭hat hugely increased anxiety about inspection in the sector, predictably, which was why I advised against it,鈥 she says.
鈥淭hat made Ofsted鈥檚 job progressively harder. At school level, the government wanted to sustain a high-pressure, high-stakes accountability system.
鈥淚 did everything I could within those constraints to make inspection as constructive and supportive as it could be with, I believe, considerable success. But ultimately, if government turns up the thumbscrews too far, people are going to scream.鈥
But others lay blame at the inspectorate鈥檚 door.
There was a 鈥渓ack of consistency鈥 in inspections and 鈥渢otal lack of consideration of the impact of inspection on small schools鈥, says Adrian Ball, the chief executive of the Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust.
鈥淔or us, in one small school with just three classes, the phonics lead was required to do a walk with the inspector before going straight into a meeting on the art deep dive.
鈥淢eanwhile, the other inspector visited her class during this time and commented that subject knowledge of the teaching assistant covering was limited and showed an area for improvement.鈥
Laura McInerney, the former editor of Schools Week, adds: 鈥淚t was just harder to be a primary school through the pandemic. With inspectors coming in so soon, people felt they needed more leeway. Being told 鈥榶ou鈥檙e generally doing well, but the RE and music curriculum is not good enough鈥, it felt like a slap in the face. It stored up extra resentment.鈥
鈥楾his has to be a watershed鈥
Then headteacher Ruth Perry took her life while her school, Caversham primary in Reading, awaited publication of an 鈥榠nadequate鈥 judgment. Resentment became anger.
In the immediate aftermath, leaders wore black armbands during inspections. Some held a minute鈥檚 silence.
One head even refused to let an inspector enter her school, but backed down after it was made clear it was a criminal offence. The inspector had to be flanked by police.
Unions demanded inspections were paused. 鈥淭his has to be a watershed moment,鈥 said Paul Whiteman, the head of the leaders鈥 union NAHT.
Connor, the coroner at Perry鈥檚 inquest, ruled: 鈥淭he evidence is clear 鈥 and I find very easily that Ruth鈥檚 mental health deterioration and death was likely contributed to by the Ofsted inspection.鈥
Other causes included the conduct of the inspection, the single-word 鈥榠nadequate鈥 judgment for a school rated otherwise 鈥榞ood鈥 but with issues that 鈥渃ould be remedied by the time the report was published鈥, and confidentiality requirements placed on headteachers before publication of reports.
She said Ofsted had publicly described the tragedy as 鈥渁 pivot to try and discredit what Ofsted does. This is without any attempt to analyse the evidence more carefully.鈥
History teacher and Teachers Talk Radio founder Tom Rogers says Perry鈥檚 death should have brought 鈥渋mmediate and cataclysmic change. As it was, Spielman doubled down in her defence of the inspectorate.鈥
鈥業t鈥檚 not me, it鈥檚 you鈥
In a particularly telling interview in November, Spielman said Ofsted was 鈥減oorly understood鈥. Budget cuts were to blame for its 鈥渃urtailed鈥 positive role and critics used Perry鈥檚 death as a 鈥減ivot to try and discredit鈥 its work.
One Schools Week鈥檚 front page that month ran a picture of Spielman next to the headline: 鈥淧arting shot: It鈥檚 not me, it鈥檚 you鈥.
Dame Alison Peacock, the chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, says the response lacked 鈥渆mpathy, humility and recognition of the ripple effects that that the accountability system has鈥.
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Mary Bousted, the then joint-general secretary of the National Education Union, adds: 鈥淚t brought Ofsted into disrepute. It had [previously] acted with almost complete impunity. Ofsted was not an agency used to being held to account for its competence, performance, effect it had on the progression.鈥
An independent review of how the inspectorate responded to Perry鈥檚 death, led by former chief inspector Christine Gilbert, said the initial response appeared 鈥渄efensive and complacent rather than reflective and self-critical鈥. It 鈥渋ncreased the damaged to its reputation鈥.
Jonathan Simons, a partner in Public First, says Ofsted had been given more and more responsibility over the years.
鈥淭he government loved Amanda鈥 but it led to a siege mentality, where any criticism by definition was invalid.鈥
An inspectorate will always face a degree of unpopularity. As one former adviser explains: 鈥淚t is an organisation that basically gets told every single day it is horrible, so that can be really difficult. Sometimes those accusations are bad faith, so there was an instinctive defensiveness in the organisation.鈥
But they add: 鈥淭he only way to protect this thing we think is really important 鈥 inspection of schools 鈥 is to make sensible changes and not be stubborn and pig-headed. Lots of those accusations were reasonable.鈥
Spielman made some changes. But it took Sir Martyn Oliver, the new incumbent who arrived this January, to deliver the kind of change that was closer to what the sector was demanding.
鈥淭here was lots of stuff that could have been done, and has since been done, quickly and easily,鈥 Simons says. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 radical.鈥
And Bousted asks: 鈥淲hy did it take the death of a headteacher to achieve this?鈥
Responding to the criticism, Spielman says: 鈥淲e endeavoured to express all the regret, all the empathy, all the sadness that we felt. I was in a very difficult position where people wanted me to say that the inspection had been wrong, and yet I couldn’t without undermining a serious and competent inspector. All the reviews did not support that.
鈥淚 do accept that the inspection contributed to Ruth Perry鈥檚 death 鈥 at least in part because it was how she first learned of serious failings in her school, which so regrettably led to her fearing for her job and reputation. From my first day at Ofsted I was conscious of the fear factor and all the changes I made were intended to reduce this as much as it was possible.
鈥淧eople want Ofsted somehow to be able to take away a fear of consequences. Only the people responsible for deciding what happens to schools can do that.鈥
鈥業t鈥檚 a governance issue鈥
Leora Cruddas, the chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, adds inspection must be viewed as a 鈥渨ider part of the public accountability system 鈥 [and] we need one that is intelligent, proportionate and compassionate. We should be careful of using Ofsted as a lightning rod.鈥
And there is the role of employers, too, in how the 鈥渃onsequences鈥 of inspections are handled.
Sir Jon Coles, the chief executive of the United Learning academy trust, adds: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the issue with Ofsted is Ofsted. The issue with Ofsted is the governance of schools.
鈥淣obody in United Learning has been, or will ever be, sacked because of Ofsted. We should know how good our schools are in a way that Ofsted can鈥檛 possibly know after a two-day inspection. If Ofsted found something wrong that was true, and we didn鈥檛 know about it, then that鈥檚 on us [the trust].
鈥淚f you鈥檝e got a well-functioning governance and support arrangement, there shouldn鈥檛 be any consequences of Ofsted鈥.
Reading Borough Council, which oversaw Caversham primary, seemed to avoid criticism. A learning review commissioned by the council, and run by two retired local authority chiefs, concluded they 鈥渨ould have 鈥 responded the same way鈥.
The review instead claimed councils more widely were 鈥渆ffectively hamstrung鈥 in providing high-quality support because of government policy and funding cuts.
Scores on the doors?
Labour has already axed one-word judgments. And from September 2025, report cards will provide parents with a greater understanding of where a school can be better, and which areas are improving, Bridget Phillipson, the new education secretary, has said.
It has been widely welcomed, but coming up with a replacement will be difficult.
Rogers says the pledge is the 鈥渓ast hope for those who have spent 10 years trying to change the inspectorate for the good of the profession鈥 Will it be a new and more illuminated chapter, or will it be another phase that promises much, but delivers little?鈥
Becky Allen, the co-founder of Teacher Tapp, says while overall judgments are 鈥渁 bit shaky鈥 we create a lot of problems when we increase the importance of sub-judgments that in themselves are necessarily more unreliable.
鈥淚magine we put massive weight on these, and they do it within the accountability system? You just have to be careful what you wish for.鈥
There is also the big issue of what Labour will do about intervention.
Sir David Carter, the national schools commissioner, adds: 鈥淓nsuring that children attend a good school is one of the core responsibilities of a government and a system that explains how [intervention] decisions are reached needs to be thought about alongside how overall judgments will be described.鈥
The future
A key debate is what the inspectorate鈥檚 core role should be. Spielman firmly believes the inspectorate is there to protect the interests of children. Oliver talks more about the inspectorate being 鈥渙f the system鈥. And Labour has flirted with the idea of Ofsted being a school improver.
Sir Martyn Oliver
鈥淚f Ofsted is not improving kids鈥 education, or making a difference to the quality of teaching, what鈥檚 the point coming in and making statements that haven鈥檛 made any real difference?鈥 says Dewhurst. 鈥淚 do think Ofsted has a role as school improver.鈥
Liz Robinson, the chief executive of the Big Education academy trust, says inspection should focus on 鈥渋mproving, rather than proving.
鈥淚f we feel we have to defend ourselves 鈥 we hide things. How do you change the nature of the conversation so we鈥檙e not triggering people鈥檚 defence mechanisms? [Currently] Ofsted doesn鈥檛 help you get better, it makes improvement harder.鈥
Michael Fordham, the principal of Thetford Academy in Norfolk, says Ofsted does a 鈥渞eally good job鈥 in fulfilling the equivalent role of a hygiene inspector. 鈥淚t can quickly say is safeguarding good, are behaviour and exam entries sensible.
鈥淏ut it doesn鈥檛 have capacity in the current funding model to do the 鈥榝ood critic鈥 work 鈥 鈥榠s this a good maths curriculum鈥? That would need a much larger inspectorate, longer inspections. I鈥檓 not sure there鈥檚 desire for that.鈥
Ofsted鈥檚 own board has warned that the reliability of inspections will be 鈥渃ompromised鈥 if funding is 鈥渇urther constrained鈥.
Funding is now 29 per cent lower in real terms compared with 2009-10, despite its responsibilities growing.
David Laws, a former Lib Dem schools minister and chair of the Education Policy Institute, adds: 鈥淥fsted remains the one part of the education system that can be trusted and relied upon to call out bad behaviour and underperformance. We give that up at our peril.
鈥淏ut quality matters tremendously, and being able to carry out inspections to a high standard. The Ofsted budget 鈥 has shrunk quite dramatically It puts at threat the quality of inspection, and that worries me. We need a review into whether it has the budget to do its work in a high quality way.鈥
Bousted also wants a review, but one into the validity and reliability of inspections. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an agency that has lost its way and is in the wilderness. But that鈥檚 where you start.鈥
Peacock, involved in various commissions relating to the future of Ofsted, adds: 鈥淲e鈥檝e looked everywhere, and the best we can come up with is 鈥榣et鈥檚 make this more collegiate in spirit 鈥 but not abandon it鈥. It just needs to be less pernicious.鈥
But Spielman cautions: 鈥淚f we are there to look after the interests of children in schools, there will be times when really tough and difficult messages have to be given.
鈥淒o I think it’s right that Ofsted should fudge or soften judgments and not say when things are not right for children, if it thinks there’s any possibility that somebody could be upset by that? Of course, I don’t.
鈥淏ut I do think it’s important that cases of failure are handled as sensitively and carefully as they can be.鈥