The issue
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High-stakes accountability measures are driving unsustainable workload, teacher and leadership wastage, and damaging the health and well-being of education professionals.
Latest updates
Mounting criticism over Ofsted’s headlong rush to deliver its flawed framework
Ahead of the 2025 summer break, Ofsted failed to publish a response to its own consultation, which closed more than three months ago. Instead, it broke its promise of a full term between the publication of its new framework and the start of inspections by announcing that inspections would start from November. It’s not even planning to publish its framework and methodology until ‘September’.
NAHT is clear that this is wholly insufficient time to adequately train inspectors, even if Ofsted’s plans were sound. They’re not – Ofsted’s approach is flawed, unsafe and undeliverable.
This leaves schools no time to get to grip with what Ofsted has planned and will drive new and unnecessary workload, heaping pressure and stress on leaders and their teams. Yet Ofsted seems determined to persist with its discredited high-stakes inspection model, which risks the lives, mental health and well-being of teaching professionals.
Late in July 2025, Ofsted announced a summer training programme – but serving inspectors told Schools Week that the plan was ‘ridiculous’ and ‘symptomatic’ of Ofsted’s rushed rollout. It appears that contracted Ofsted inspectors are expected to undertake training unpaid and cover their own expenses for face-to-face training too.
Rather than make substantive changes in response to school leaders' criticism of its plans, Ofsted seem focused on tweaking individual words used to describe grades. On 4 August 2025, the Guardian reported that Department for Education officials had criticised Ofsted’s plans for failing to take account of the government’s approach to future SEND provision and revealed that grade descriptors remain confused, muddled and ill-defined.
It really doesn’t have to be this way. NAHT will continue to press Ofsted and government to drop these ill-conceived plans. What’s needed now is a return to first principles, in collaboration with the representatives of the profession, to design a robust, fair and supportive system of school inspection, akin to that being rolled out by the Education and Training Inspectorate in Northern Ireland.
Ofsted’s flawed approach to inspection reform
The April 2025 issue of NAHT’s member magazine, Leadership Focus, examined Ofsted’s consultation on its proposed new inspection model and how our members received it. Our analysis highlighted deep concerns about the inspectorate’s failure to address fundamental issues and offered crucial insights into the widespread dissatisfaction among school leaders. Read the full article here.
NAHT members overwhelmingly reject Ofsted’s proposals
Our snap poll of members, conducted immediately after the consultation’s publication, garnered more than 3,000 responses in under 48 hours, including over 1,900 detailed written comments. The results were stark:
- A staggering 92% of members disagreed with the introduction of five-point graded judgements across eight to ten ‘evaluation areas’
- There was deep scepticism about whether Ofsted would make ‘meaningful’ changes in response to school leaders’ views. An overwhelming 96% of respondents said change was ‘unlikely’
- Many detailed free-text responses underscored the frustration and lack of confidence in Ofsted’s willingness to engage constructively with the sector.
NAHT’s advice for responding to Ofsted’s consultation
NAHT was committed to ensuring school leaders’ voices were heard loud and clear. Our dedicated consultation advice page provided essential guidance on responding effectively to Ofsted’s consultation and pushing for meaningful reform. Visit our advice page here.
What parents need to know about Ofsted’s new proposals
NAHT created a dedicated webpage to help parents understand Ofsted’s proposed changes and what they meant for schools and children. This resource broke down key concerns and highlighted why parents should be engaged in the debate over inspection reform. Visit our dedicated parent page here.
School leaders speak out: why parents should be concerned
A powerful video featured the voices of school leaders, explaining why Ofsted’s new proposals fell short and why parents should be deeply concerned about their impact on schools and children. Watch now: There's a better way to inspect schools - here's why Ofsted's proposals are not the solution.
NAHT’s response: repackaging, not reform
NAHT’s formal response to Ofsted’s consultation made clear that the proposals represented little more than a repackaging of the current inspection system. We highlighted widespread opposition to the new grading scale, the increased number of graded judgements and the superficial traffic light indicators. We also raised serious concerns that the proposed changes would heighten the already damaging high-stakes culture, posing greater risks to the health and well-being of school leaders and staff. Read our full response here.
Campaign wins
In September 2024, government announced it would scrap single-word Ofsted judgements – a measure NAHT has repeatedly called for as a first step towards more fundamental reform.
What we want to see
NAHT is campaigning for immediate system reform, including:
- root-and-branch review of Ofsted’s inspection framework, methodology and notification periods. As well as the abolition of single-word and graded judgements in favour of accurate reporting of a school’s strengths and areas for improvement, NAHT is calling for the removal of graded sub-judgements and the creation of a fully independent complaint process, among other things. In our January 2025 report Resetting the Relationship: Ofsted reform, over nine in 10 (93%) school leaders told us they do not have confidence in Ofsted to design an effective new inspection framework; more than three quarters (76%) believed a completely new framework and inspection methodology is needed, rejecting Ofsted’s plans to simply ‘evolve’ the current inspection system; and three quarters (75%) said the retention of graded ‘key sub-judgements’ would be the wrong course of action
- reduction of the excessive published performance measures and removal of the ‘all schools and colleges comparison tables’ from the performance data website to avoid the damaging consequences of encouraging the public to compare institutions in league tables
- fully funded support to safeguard the mental health and well-being of school leaders and their staff.
Read more in NAHT’s report Rethinking school inspection which sets out the interim and longer term changes needed to create a fair, proportionate and humane inspection system. Please also see NAHT’s response to Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation (June 2024), where we pressed the inspectorate for immediate removal of single-phrase judgements ahead of full system reform.
Get involved
You can help to make a difference in your local area by making your voice heard within your local authority and with your local MP.
Below, we have provided resources to help you get involved in the campaign. Get together with other members from your branch or region to take action.