Commenting on the passing of an urgent motion at the Annual Conference of the National Education Union, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The levels of anxiety, sleeplessness and distrust that NEU’s leaders report in anticipation of inspection, or during inspection, is overwhelming and shocking.
“Ofsted as an agency must take responsibility for the breakdown in trust. Ofsted is in the eye of a storm and seems incapable of responding to leaders’ concerns. One head described Ofsted as ‘arbitrary, ill-informed and brutalising’.
“For school leaders, the excessive high stakes and punitive nature of inspection can be intolerable and have a devastating impact on their professional and personal lives.
