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.
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, amongst other things. In our January 2025 report Resetting the Relationship: Ofsted reform, over nine out of ten (93%) school leaders told us they do not have confidence in Ofsted to design an effective new inspection framework; more than three quarters (76%) believe 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 press 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.