Teaching Union NASUWT Pushes to Abolish OFSTED

Teaching union, National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) has approved a motion calling for the abolition of Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED), adding to growing pressure on the schools watchdog.

Teachers described a deep-seated fear of OFSTED inspections at the union’s annual conference in Glasgow.

Last month, the National Education Union also called for an immediate freeze to inspections.

Though OFSTED says most school leaders find inspections constructive and collaborative.

There has been mounting criticism of OFSTED following the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life ahead of a report downgrading her school from outstanding to inadequate.

State schools in England inspected by OFSTED, are ranked on a four-point scale – outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.

The passed motion seeks to acknowledge that the perceived demands of OFSTED are the major contributor to the excessive workload and bureaucracy that blights the lives of teachers.

It instructed the NASUWT’s national executive to work with other education unions to call for an immediate inspections freeze and to launch a campaign to abolish the system in its current form, replacing it with a supportive framework.

A Primary school teacher, Martin Hudson, who put forward the motion, said there was a genuine and deep-seated fear of OFSTED among teachers which was completely unacceptable.

He added that OFSTED is a scourge of the classroom and the destroyer of teachers.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) also indicated that it could take legal action against OFSTED following its failure to pause inspections after Perry’s death.

Some chief executives running more than 200 academies in England said OFSTED must rethink how it does inspections.

An OFSTED spokesperson said the Inspections are first and foremost for children and their parents, looking in depth at the quality of education, behavior and how well and safely, schools are run.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said OFSTED has a crucial role to play in upholding education standards and making sure children are safe in school.

They provide independent, up to date evaluations on the quality of education, safeguarding, and leadership which parents greatly rely on to give them confidence in choosing the right school for their child.