Secondary Heads Pass No-Confidence Vote in Ofsted Leadership
England's largest union for secondary heads has passed a vote of no confidence in Ofsted's leadership.
The vote was passed by the council of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), making it the union's formal position. The dispute now involves both headteacher unions, the inspectorate and ministers. The Guardian
The motion said ASCL had no confidence in the ability of Ofsted's leadership to fix the damage from the new inspection regime. BBC The wording targets the leadership and the framework introduced last year, not inspection itself. Ofsted is England's school inspectorate, and the framework is the set of rules its inspectors follow.
ASCL called the system "an overbearing mess" and urged the government to pause inspections. Its general secretary, Pepe Di'Iasio, said the union would seek an indicative ballot on industrial action "if change is not forthcoming." An indicative ballot is a test vote to measure support before any formal strike vote.
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), led by general secretary Paul Whiteman, said its executive committee will meet at the end of next week to discuss next steps, including pursuing industrial action. No ballot has been called. Both unions say any ballot would depend on whether change happens.
Two related findings were reported at the same time. A survey published by Ofsted found 88% of schools said recent inspections had negatively affected staff wellbeing. Education secretary Lucy Powell wants Ofsted to "go back to the drawing board" and overhaul the framework introduced last year.
In 2023, a coroner found an Ofsted inspection contributed to the mental health deterioration and death of Ruth Perry, a headteacher in Reading. Labour pledged to reform school inspections in its 2024 election manifesto.
The broader context here is a three-way test of credibility. For Ofsted, the 88% result comes from its own survey, which makes it hard to dismiss complaints as isolated cases. For ministers, Powell's call for a redraw gives leverage but also responsibility, since any pause or rewrite will be judged against the manifesto pledge. For ASCL and the NAHT, moving to indicative ballots would shift the dispute from professional protest into employment law, with strict thresholds and timelines.
What to watch is sequencing. ASCL has made action conditional on change. NAHT has set a date for a decision. The department has demanded a new framework without yet describing a replacement. Each side has left room to step back, but each has made a public commitment that will be hard to drop without visible movement.
