NEU and ASCL to formally support NAHT’s legal action against Ofsted

The National Education Union (NEU) and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) have confirmed their formal support of NAHT’s legal action against Ofsted and its proposed new framework.

Both unions have agreed to provide witness statements and said they will support NAHT’s judicial review going forward.

NAHT launched the legal challenge earlier this year, citing Ofsted’s failure to “properly consider the wellbeing of school staff in its development of a new framework and significant failures in the consultation process”.

The union is currently waiting for the court to determine if permission will be granted for the case to proceed.

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: “Today’s announcement that other unions will be supporting our legal action sends a clear and public message that the sector is united in its view that the consultation process was fundamentally flawed and that the revised framework represents a clear risk to the health and wellbeing of those we represent.”

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “The NEU has deep concerns about the harmful impact these proposals will have on leaders,  teachers and support staff. These reforms do not fix the fundamental problems with school inspection, and the new grading scale will only make things worse, not better.

“It is not inevitable that school inspection should be so high stakes, so punitive and so burdensome for schools. It is certainly not the solution to recruit and retain a motivated and successful school workforce.”

He added: “Our support for this legal action is a reflection of the strength of feeling from our members that these proposals should not go ahead, and we must see fundamental change towards a system that is supportive, effective and fair.”

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It is a sorry state of affairs that legal action is the only avenue open to us to get Ofsted to think again about a new inspection system which will clearly place more pressure on leaders and teachers.

“We have spent months trying to persuade the inspectorate to understand that its five-point grading scale will certainly not improve stress levels which experts already describe as ‘concerningly high’ and that it is likely to make matters worse in many cases. However, Ofsted has remained resolutely intransigent, and we have to turn to other means to protect the education workforce.”

He concluded: “Ofsted and the government must surely be able to see that an inspection system which leads to even greater levels of professional burnout, and results in leaders quitting the profession, or worse, is in nobody’s interests.”