School heads blast Ofsted chief over ‘negative tactics’

Delegates at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) annual conference, in Harrogate, passed an emergency motion yesterday saying they are “saddened and dismayed” by his approach.

The move will be seen as a highly personal attack on the Ofsted chief inspector and came only days after the NAHT announced plans to inspect the inspectors with a new website allowing heads to assess Ofsted visits to their school.

The union says it will use the site to show the education watchdog that the quality of inspections vary and to urge them to be more focused on “helping schools improve rather than simply criticising them”.

The NAHT also revealed that a poll of more than 2,000 school leaders showed almost half believe that Ofsted makes no contribution to, or actively prevented, standards being raised.

Yesterday’s motion, which was passed with a large majority, said: “This conference is both saddened and dismayed by the approach taken by the current HMCI (Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector).

“We would encourage the use of language that creates a culture of support for schools and discourages negative rhetoric. We would expect HMCI to understand that to achieve the very best from teachers and children he needs to balance support with challenge.”

It called on the NAHT’s executive to use the Government’s e-petition website to raise concerns about Ofsted’s inspection system and seek a parliamentary debate on the issue.

Proposing the motion, Mike Curtis, an Oxfordshire head teacher, said: “Fear reigns and confidence wanes as Ofsted waves its stick.

“It is time to stand up to ‘bully-boy tactics’”, he added.

Mr Curtis also argued: “He (Sir Michael) suggests that we should be ‘lone heroes’ who beat everyone in our school into submission. The suggestion that we get the best out of people by bullying them is outrageous.”

An Ofsted spokeswoman said: “We have been listening to the views of headteachers, teachers and parents about the proposed changes to school inspections and will announce the results of its consultation at the end of the month. The intention is to work closely with good heads as they drive improvement in their schools.”

NAHT members had considered a motion of no confidence in Sir Michael, but it was dropped after delegates raised concerns that the tone and wording was too strong.

Sir Michael became chief inspector in January, after a highly successful career as a head teacher, including serving as executive head of Mossbourne Academy in Hackney.

Since taking up his post, Ofsted has announced plans to introduce no-notice inspections for all schools, and to scrap the “satisfactory” rating and replace it with “requires improvement”.

Schools placed in this category will be subject to more frequent inspections, with those that fail to improve after three visits facing the prospect of being placed in special measures.

The plans are currently being consulted on.

On Saturday, Education Secretary Michael Gove appeared to offer an olive branch to school leaders at the conference as he signalled a U-turn over plans for schools to face unannounced inspections, which were expected to be introduced this autumn.

Teaching unions say heads should be given notice to ensure they can be at school when inspectors arrive.