Headteachers call for Ofsted school grades to be suspended
School leaders are calling for Ofsted to temporarily stop grading schools, claiming its new inspection system is creating greater stress and harming staff wellbeing.
By The Guardian
Headteachers are calling for Ofsted to suspend its new school grading system amid claims that inspections are creating greater pressure and damaging the wellbeing of education staff.
The National Association of Head Teachers, which represents school leaders across England, says it has raised repeated concerns with the Government about the impact of the inspection framework introduced last year.
The union is not calling for inspections themselves to stop.
Instead, it wants Ofsted to temporarily suspend the grades attached to inspections while the new system and its effect on school staff are reviewed.
NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said feedback from headteachers and other education professionals suggested some were being left anxious, overwhelmed and demoralised by the process.
The criticism comes despite substantial changes to the way schools are inspected.
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall judgement such as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.
Since November 2025, inspectors have instead produced report cards assessing different areas of a school’s performance.
Individual areas are graded using five categories: exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention and urgent improvement.
Safeguarding is assessed separately as either met or not met.
The reforms were intended to provide parents with a more detailed picture of schools and avoid reducing an entire inspection to one headline judgement.
However, the NAHT argues that replacing a single grade with numerous individual judgements has not solved the underlying problems associated with inspection pressure.
The issue of staff wellbeing has received particular attention following the death of Reading headteacher Ruth Perry in 2023.
An inquest concluded that an Ofsted inspection contributed to her suicide.
Her death led to substantial scrutiny of the inspection system and prompted changes to Ofsted’s approach, including measures intended to identify and respond to concerns about the wellbeing of school leaders.
Further safeguards have subsequently been introduced.
Earlier this year, the NAHT announced that an independent advisory group would monitor the effect of the new framework on school leaders’ wellbeing, alongside an anonymous post-inspection survey.
Ofsted has also continued to amend the practical operation of inspections.
Changes introduced for the new academic year include adjustments intended to address concerns about workload during inspections, including greater flexibility over which school leaders accompany inspectors on learning walks.
Ofsted maintains that its new report cards give parents and professionals a clearer and more detailed assessment of education than the previous overall grading system.
The watchdog says the framework provides greater nuance by combining grades across individual areas with written explanations of strengths and priorities for improvement.
More than 1,400 state-funded schools had received inspections under the renewed system by the end of March.
The dispute therefore centres increasingly on whether the reforms have gone far enough.
School leaders broadly accept the need for independent inspection and accountability, but their union argues that the wellbeing consequences of attaching grades to the process require further examination.
The NAHT is now pressing the Government and Ofsted to pause those judgements while the system is reviewed.
Any further changes would affect schools across England, including those in Cheshire, as they undergo inspections under the renewed national framework.