Ofsted is not able to back up claims it made under oath that inspectors had paused inspections where headteachers were distressed, saying it does not hold a record of such instances.
A coroner last month ruled an Ofsted inspection in November 2022 contributed to the death by suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry in January last year.
The embattled watchdog gave evidence at the inquest that it had previously paused inspections due to headteacher distress.
Chris Russell, Ofsted’s then-national director for education, told the inquest while there was no written guidance on modifying inspections where heads were under “high levels of stress”, this was a “core value” of inspector training.
