Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman said Ofsted “often becomes a sort of lightning rod” where “tensions and frustrations can be discharged” when there is wider unhappiness in the school sector.
Speaking publicly for the first time since news of headteacher Ruth Perry’s death, Spielman appeared to partly blame criticism of the inspectorate with wider discontent behind teacher strikes and school funding woes.
When challenged about one-word grades, she said that was a decision for government – not Ofsted.
The under-fire chief inspector also stood by the inspection at Perry’s school, Caversham Primary, in Berkshire, and admitted she hadn’t reached out to Perry’s family because she didn’t want to “intrude on their grief”.
