Two school unions will formally support the National Association of Headteachers legal action against Ofsted over its new inspection framework, it has been announced.
The National Education Union and Association of School and College Leaders will provide witness statements for school leaders’ union NAHT’s judicial review against the inspections watchdog.
Ofsted is proposing to issue schools with one of five colour-coded grades ranging from ‘causing concern’ to ‘exemplary’ across up to 11 different inspection areas.
But the NAHT filed a claim for judicial review in the High Court in May, warning its members feared the increase in the number of sub-judgments “will only increase high-stakes accountability and pressure”.
The union is opposing the report card proposals on legal grounds, “arguing that adequate consultation has not been conducted regarding the plan for a new five-point scale to grade schools”.
Now, the NEU and ASCL have confirmed they will provide witness statements for the review and will support the legal action going forward. Schools Week has asked which unions will fund the legal action.
An Ofsted spokesperson said it is “really disappointing that these unions have taken this stance”.
Legal action ‘the only avenue’
Pepe Di’lasio, ASCL general secretary, said: “It is a sorry state of affairs that legal action is the only avenue open to get Ofsted to think about a new inspection system which will clearly place more pressure on leaders and teachers.”
ASCL dropped proposals to ask leaders to quit as Ofsted inspectors earlier this month, but said it was mulling legal action.
“We have spent months trying to persuade the inspectorate to understand that its five-point grading scale will certainly not improve stress levels,” Di’lasio added. “However Ofsted has remained resolutely intransigent, and we have to turn to other means to protect the education workforce.”
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said supporting the legal action “is a reflection of the strength of feeling from our members that these proposals should not go ahead”.
He said the reforms “do not fix the fundamental problems with school inspection, and the new grading scale will only make things worse, not better”.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT said the NEU and ASCL’s support “sends a clear and public message that the sector is united in its view that the consultation was fundamentally flawed and that the revised framework represents a clear risk to the health and wellbeing of those we represent”.
NAHT is currently waiting for the court to give permission for the case to proceed.
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “We have every confidence that our new-look reports will be better for parents and their children – because they provide more detailed and useful information.
“We also believe our revised inspections will be fairer for schools, because they will highlight strengths and areas for improvement, and not come to a single overall judgement.
“It’s really disappointing that these unions have taken this stance – even after months of genuine discussions between us. Our pilot inspections have gone very well, which makes us confident that headteachers will recognise a positive change when inspections begin.”
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