The media coverage of the inquest into the death of primary school headteacher Ruth Perry has been traumatic for many colleagues.
There are many among us who have been badly hurt by the Ofsted process, whose careers have been ruined, and whose health has been damaged. Without getting too personal, I had my own traumatic experience with Ofsted which I still carry with me today.
Like many, I still bear the psychological scars and the haunting memories. I still remember waking up at 2am and being unable to get back to sleep. Laying awake for hours at a time. This lasted for 18 months.
This experience is now what drives me. It is one of the significant reasons for doing the job I do – an education director within a multi-academy trust supporting school leaders through inspection. I remain committed to supporting headteachers because I never want anyone else to be affected like I was.
Is change coming?
As we returned for the spring term, news broke that new Ofsted chief inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, had paused inspections for two weeks so that his inspectors could undergo emergency mental health awareness training. This was a direct response to the damning ruling at Ruth Perry’s inquest in December.
The inquest ruled that the November 2022 inspection of her school had “lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity”, was at times “rude and intimidating”, and had “contributed” to her suicide.
Many of us are hoping that Ruth Perry’s legacy will be one of significant change to the Ofsted machine.
And Ofsted has now responded to the coroner’s prevention of future death notice setting out what it is doing to ensure nothing like this can happen again.
One of the biggest actions so far has been the publication of an official policy regarding the pausing of inspections – Ofsted inspections can now be paused for up to five working days in “exceptional circumstances” – including if the headteacher is distressed and requires additional support (for more on Ofsted’s response to the coroner, see our article here).
Protecting wellbeing
I have been through almost 40 inspections in the last nine years and have been directly involved in four inspections during 2023. I have also supported other schools to prepare for inspections and have read far too many inspection reports than is good for me.
I have seen every single judgement and have always tried to support school leaders to do their best and to reduce their stress and anxiety.
So while emphasising that a change in approach from Ofsted is clearly necessary, in this edition of Headteacher Update I want to offer practical suggestions to empower school leaders, too.
In another article for SecEd you will find nine general inspection insights based on my experiences of Ofsted last year. And below I offer eight suggestions to help support your own wellbeing during school inspection.
1, Who is there for you?
Being a head during inspection can be a lonely experience so you need to know who you can seek advice from at all stages. If you are part of a multi-academy trust (MAT), it should be expected that colleagues will be alongside you at every step. They will help prepare you, be there for the phone call, during the inspection, and then help you handle the communication of the result afterwards. If you are a local authority school or a standalone trust, who can help you? Could you buddy up with a fellow head and offer mutual peer support, especially if your leadership team is very small?
Remember, one of Ofsted’s tweaks last year was to make it clear in the handbook that school leaders can be joined by colleagues in meetings with inspectors. You can also share inspection outcomes with colleagues, family, medical advisors, and wider support groups before sharing with parents.
2, Where is your base?
You need a base where you and your leaders can escape to let of steam. In small schools there is a temptation to give inspectors the headteacher’s office – resist this as you need some space for yourself.
In a large secondary school, your space may be protected but you need to ask yourself where will you put the inspectors? Think about what will be going on around that room that may not reflect as well as you would wish. You may wish to alter some of behaviour management routines to make sure there is a presence near that room.
I know of one school where whenever an inspector came out of the room they were immediately shadowed by a member of the senior leadership team or a trust colleague.
3, Eat well
If we are going to perform at our best over the course of an inspection, we need to make sure we eat as well as we can. After you get the call, make sure you have some ready meals available that you can prepare quickly in the evening. During the day, make sure you have healthy snacks to graze on.
4, Know the handbook
We must understand the process and the best place to look is the Ofsted handbook. There is so much detail on what will happen prior to inspection, during inspection and after inspection. Equally, as a middle leader there is so much information in the handbook that it really helps you know what they are looking for.
And as a senior leader, if you do not know the handbook, you cannot...
5, Challenge inspectors
It is hard but there are times when you have to challenge inspectors. Be assertive but remain professionally polite. I have done this on a number of occasions. During a monitoring visit of an “inadequate” school, inspectors began to question (and criticise) why the school had not been rebrokered. I politely stopped them, pointing out that this was not in their remit. They quickly apologised. In another case at an infants school the inspector referenced national attendance figures. I had to point out several times that they were looking at figures for primary schools rather than infant schools. Eventually the inspectors accepted my point.
6, The end of day one
It is always tough at the end of the first day. Unfortunately, the Ofsted process can seem to operate a deficit model and one element of this is that at the end of day one we are very aware of everything we seem not to have done or the areas where we are not at our best. I have seen many inspections where school leaders at the halfway point are convinced they will be downgraded – and yet the final outcome is positive. Be prepared for this. Remember if the outcome is at risk of being the worst, inspectors have to notify you during the inspection.
7, Work in pairs
I have a golden rule: no-one should speak to an inspector on their own. This is even more important in the new process where some senior leaders, often your most talented colleagues, will not speak to inspectors as they do not lead subject areas. So, pair up your senior leaders with middle leaders. It could be the colleagues that they line manage and then the two of them can have the meetings together.
If you are part of a MAT, it is perfectly acceptable for MAT colleagues to accompany your middle leaders. Also make sure the supporting colleague is writing down all the questions from the meetings so that you can pass them around your team.
8, Be realistic
Be realistic about what is possible. If you are leading an “inadequate” school, your first challenge is to get to “requires improvement”. Equally during monitoring visits it is very hard to persuade inspectors to convert to a graded inspection in order to move your school out of “inadequate”. Try and accept this. Equally, only a very small number of schools are graded “outstanding” so be realistic about the possibility of this too.
Final thoughts
While we wait for Ofsted to change, I hope this advice can help in reducing anxiety and stress during your inspection. If you feel your inspection has gone badly, talk to trusted people and believe that this could be the point that makes you an even better leader. Equally if it has gone well, enjoy the moment but try not to be carried away by the hype. Remember, an inspection does not define you or your leadership. Ultimately, take care of yourself and those around you. School improvement is a team game.
- Paul K Ainsworth has held director of school improvement roles in four multi-academy trusts and is currently education director with Infinity Academies Trust in Lincolnshire. He is the author of No Silver Bullets: Day-in, day-out school improvement. Paul is a regular on the Headteacher Update Podcast, including recent episodes focused on Ofsted and school inspection and school leadership survival. Find these and all his articles via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/paul-k-ainsworth