Ofsted inspections impacting headteachers' mental health, report shows
The National Association of Head Teachers says almost half have needed professional mental health support in the last year.
The pressure to do well in Ofsted ratings is the main factor behind mental health struggles for England's school leaders, according to a report by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT).
The report found 38% reported they had accessed professional mental health support, and another 11% said they wanted to do so, but either did not know how or found it was unavailable to them.
Ken Rustidge is the Lincolnshire Secretary for the National Education Union (NEU) and says :
“I mean this is something that's deeply worrying and upsetting, you know, it shouldn't be like that.
“That our head teachers who work - in my experience so hard and as such, thoroughly decent people who want the best for the school and above all, for the children in their care - are under mental health pressure, much of which is induced by the government, by the Ofsted system.”
Ruth Perry took her own life in January after an Ofsted report downgraded her school in Reading from 'outstanding' to 'inadequate' due to safeguarding concerns. A coroner ruled the Ofsted inspection likely contributed to her death.
Ken Rustidge and other unions have called for Ofsted to be scrapped and replaced with a different system of assessing schools. He said:
“I mean, they suddenly get this Ofsted inspection on little or no notice, and you know, they’re making judgments on one day
“For the head teachers and in fact, all the teachers are then under tremendous pressure and that snapshot of a school - of one day - rather than taking a whole view really has an impact. But there’s also wider issues than that.
"Really Ofsted should be either be reformed, or indeed abolished altogether. There must be a better system. We don't want, to see anything like the tragic events of that headteacher taking their own life, that really should have never been allowed to happen. It should have been looked at before now, and we need a different, better, further process brought into place."
A Department for Education (DfE) spokeswoman said:
"We recognise the extraordinary service that headteachers, teachers and other school staff provide and are taking action to reduce the pressures on them where we can.
"We have doubled our mental health and wellbeing scheme for school leaders this year, backed by £1.1 million, and have launched the education staff wellbeing charter to help schools to prioritise staff wellbeing.
"Earlier this year Ofsted announced a number of changes to the way it inspects schools, taking into account the impact school inspections can have on teachers."