Pressure of ‘toxic’ graded inspections during the pandemic is driving school leaders from profession, the education secretary has been told
Graded Ofsted inspections during the Covid pandemic are “toxic” to the wellbeing of headteachers and should be stopped, a support service for school leaders has warned.
The organisation Headrest has written to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi and Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman to demand that inspections be halted over concerns that they are causing health problems and driving heads out of the profession.
Ofsted began some graded inspections last term and returned to a full programme of inspection in September.
The Headrest group said it has received calls from school leaders who need medication to manage their anxiety and workplace stress and that an impending Ofsted inspection is “often a key contributory factor”.
