Teachers urged to chip in £1 each to crowdfund legal challenge against Ofsted
Teachers are being asked to chip in £1 each to fund a legal challenge against Ofsted amid a growing backlash against the watchdog following the suicide of a headteacher.
A group of school leaders, led by Tory Education Society Vice President John Bald, are crowdfunding "to gather evidence of Ofsted’s unfair practices and their devastating impact on schools."
Relations between teachers and the school inspections body have hit new lows since the death of headteacher Ruth Perry, who killed herself in January while waiting for an Ofsted report that downgraded her school from outstanding to inadequate.
The family of the Caversham Primary School head have blamed the "deeply harmful" pressure of the Ofsted inspection for her distress.
Mr Bald, who worked for Ofsted until 2006, told The Guardian: "There are thousands of people working in education who will be overjoyed to see Ofsted made answerable for the many careers they have ended and the fear and stress they have caused.”
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Ofsted's chief inspector Amanda Spielman has defended the watchdog (PA)He added: "Inspectors are picking up on trivial points of detail, such as gaps in safeguarding administration, and using them to fail a school that is performing well.
"That is utterly disgraceful."
The campaign, which has already raised thousands of pounds, is asking heads, teachers, school staff and parents to donate at least £1 to their battle.
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Yogi Amin, national head of education law at law firm Irwin Mitchell, which is advising the group, said: “The issue of Ofsted inspections and the processes schools and school leaders have to go through has never been in sharper focus than it is now.
“Unfortunately at present many school leaders feel that complaining to Ofsted about an inspection they deem to be unfair will not result in any positive outcome. They also to have consider the squeeze on school budgets. If a school thinks their Ofsted rating is unfair, what school governing body under budget constraints is going to justify a legal challenge against such a decision?
“The serious concerns raised about Ofsted prompt a question over whether Ofsted’s policy and guidance on the inspection of schools is legally flawed.
“The campaign group feels strongly that the Ofsted inspection and reporting process needs to change to be fairer and more balanced. We’re now advising the group on possible next steps.”
The NAHT headteachers' union urged schools to rip down Ofsted banners and logos from their buildings last week and said it was time to put the watchdog "back in its box".
NAHT Vice President Simon Kidwell said yesterday: "The tragedy of Ruth Perry, that could have been us.
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"I've been at my school for 12 years and if somebody had said your school is inadequate after 12 years, that's half my leadership journey.
"It would just have been a devastating impact on my own personal health and also the school, because the school now will have to be academised. It's got that label, so it's a brutal process."
Ofsted boss Amanda Spielman has said that she has no "reason to doubt" how the inspection of Ms Perry's school was handled.
She acknowledged to the BBC that a culture of fear exists around inspections but said the majority of schools have a "positive and affirming experience".
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Ensuring children are safe in school is far from ‘trivial’ – it is one of the most important elements of our inspections.”
She said a school would be graded inadequate for safeguarding reasons only for “serious concerns” such as failure to complete background checks on staff or not having a robust system to spot signs of abuse.
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