Michael Pettavel: 'Ofsted has to change now'

This article was written prior to new chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver's announcement on 2 January 2024 that inspections in schools will be halted to allow for mental health training for inspectors.

Ofsted have been making headlines in the past few weeks and not in a good way (did they ever?). Emotions can run high when discussing our inspectorate and it isn’t surprising given their perceived untouchable status. It has been a very one-sided affair since their inception in 1992 and in all that time, there has been fear, mistrust and anxiety associated with their work.

The effectiveness of intervention relies on the sensitive use of knowledge and experience in order to identify and build improvement. There are few who would disagree that in any educational setting, the greatest resource is the staff team. Now, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that if those people are stressed, fearful and in a panic every time the phone rings, then you probably won’t be getting the best out of them. You will also drive division and completely lose the focus on any core task because people are so busy covering their backs and hiding.