Two education leadership unions have today written to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver warning that they will consider encouraging their members to withdraw their service as Ofsted inspectors unless there are changes to plans for a new inspection system.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) have highlighted their members’ concerns over the rushed timetable for implementing the new system, and proposals for a five-point grading scale which would be applied across up to 10 judgement areas. They say it will not be possible for inspectors to make so many finely balanced judgements during the course of a single inspection in a way that is reliable and consistent.

Furthermore, Ofsted recently decided to delay its response to a consultation exercise held earlier this year, and its final plans for the new system, from the summer to the autumn term. However, Ofsted and the Department for Education still intend to press ahead with introducing this radically different new system in November even though the window for schools and colleges to prepare – which was already tight – has now been reduced to just a few weeks.

The unions warn that this is entirely unacceptable and will add to workload pressures, negatively affect leaders’ and teachers’ wellbeing and mental health, and further undermine trust in the proposed framework.

They have resolved that unless there are changes to both the timeframe of implementation and to the five-point grading scale, they will consider encouraging members to withdraw their service as Ofsted inspectors in the autumn term. Many inspectors are not full-time Ofsted employees but are school leaders who serve as inspectors on a part-time basis.  

The letter adds: “This would be an unprecedented step for ASCL and NAHT and underlines the strength of feeling about the proposed reforms. We very much hope this is not an action we have to take.”

On Monday,  NAHT and ASCL joined with the NASUWT and NEU in writing to the Education Secretary calling for the introduction of the new inspection system to be delayed to the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “We hope the education secretary and chief inspector will listen and delay the introduction of the proposed changes to inspection.

“This would create the breathing space needed to ensure these flawed proposals are fundamentally reshaped in collaboration with the profession, as well as preventing a rushed rehash of the plans being dumped upon schools at unacceptably short notice, piling intolerable pressure upon schools and inspectors.

“However, if there is no movement on this, we will need to look at what can be done to protect our members, and one option we have agreed to consider is advising those school leaders who also work as inspectors to withdraw their services from Ofsted in the autumn term. We sincerely hope this will not be necessary.”

ASCL general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said: “We have voiced our concerns repeatedly over the past few months in discussions with Ofsted and the DfE, but the timetable for implementation has actually got worse rather than better, and there has been no indication so far of likely movement on the five-point grading scale.

"It feels as though we have exhausted the potential for compromise through discussion, and that we have little option other than to consider this more direct form of action.”

The letter can be read here.