Commenting as Ofsted announces it will not be publishing its consultation response - originally due to be published in the summer - until September, meaning schools and inspectors will have just weeks to understand the new inspection framework before it is implemented, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“Today’s announcement is symptomatic of an organisation and a process in disarray. Having told schools they will get a term’s notice ahead of these major changes to inspection, the government & Ofsted seem to have now abandoned that completely.

“Any pretence by the government & Ofsted that they care about the wellbeing of school leaders and teachers appears to have now gone out the window. If these proposals go ahead, school leaders will now have to spend the first half-term of the new school year preparing for an entirely new inspection framework. Rather than having a term, it appears they may have just a matter of weeks to do this. The pressure this will place schools under is immense and there is no way this is in the best interests of pupils.

“Ofsted were clear that they would be getting their response out to the consultation in the summer term but have now said they will fail to do that. There is now a growing suspicion that the overall response to Ofsted’s proposals were largely negative and that the pilots they have been running are exposing the major problems we predicted. If that is the case, they should be taking the time to return to the drawing board and then roll out changes in a measured and timely manner. Instead, it seems schools will end up suffering for Ofsted’s failings.  

“Ministers cannot be absolved of blame here either. We have been very clear for a long time now that these proposals are fundamentally flawed. We have been equally clear that the timelines are simply unworkable and would put schools under immense and unacceptable pressure. By ignoring these concerns, the government is sending a message to school leaders that their wellbeing is simply not a priority. We recognise that we may never agree on every aspect of inspection policy, but this decision is bordering on reckless and could do real damage to the health and wellbeing of school staff.

“We urge government to intervene to ensure that Ofsted is not allowed to proceed on this basis.”