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.
Steve Scott, Branch Secretary for the East Riding National Education Union (NEU) said: "Ofsted will call you up at lunchtime to let you know they're coming in the following day so this drives everyone in the school into panic, what you've been working on for years and years as a school is going to be judged in a day or two and summed up in one or two words.
"It has huge impacts on staff that work there - they feel personally judged, the school is judged - but we'd never judge pupils as 'good' or 'requires improvement'. You can't sum up all aspects of the school in such a small report as Ofsted do."
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.
Steve Scott and the NEU have called for Ofsted to be scrapped and replaced with a different system of assessing schools. He said: "The teachers, the support staff, the leaders in schools have been in that community for years - they know that community they know the area, they know the needs.
"Ofsted - who know nothing about that area - come in and make a judgement about what they've seen over the course of less than 10 hours."
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."