The sister of a Caversham headteacher who died by suicide says she fears the powers-that-be are only paying lip service to the lessons that must be learnt.
She also said they are waiting on Ofsted to deliver on its promises of an independent review into the circumstances of Ruth Perry’s death, and preventable.
It came after Ofsted inspectors downgraded Caversham Primary School to ‘inadequate’ following an inspection.
“I don’t want any other headteacher or teacher to be made to feel the way that Ruth felt,” Professor Julia Waters said.
“I don’t want any other family to feel the unbearable pain and grief that we have felt, that we continue to feel – and that we shall always feel.”
Prof Waters said she was cautiously hopeful that a new chief inspector of schools would have the determination and ambition to see real change.
She also urged delegates attending the the NEU conference on Friday, April 5, to take part in Ofsted’s Big Listen exercise.
“Whether you are a teacher, a parent, a governor, or a student, please share your experiences. Make your voices heard,” she said.
Despite this action, she said: “Despite the promising start, there seems to be a lot of passing the buck going on between the government and Ofsted. There seems to be a lot of unnecessary delay.
“Delays and obfuscation put more lives at risk. It’s not acceptable to play politics with people’s well-being.”
Prof Waters said she hoped the review would have powers to investigate all aspect of the Caversham Primary School inspection and the inspection system in general.
“Ofsted must not be allowed to mark its own homework again,” she warned.
Teachers should step up: “It is time for you to do what you do best – to teach Ofsted a lesson. Don’t play their game of fault-finding and bullying. Look for what’s good and make the system work, with kindness and hope.
“Do not let Ofsted and the government get away with half-hearted measures and lip service. Do not lose sight of this opportunity to demand change.”
As to whether Ofsted should be abolished, a postion the NEU has previously called for, Prof Waters said this would not happen any time soon.
“I urge you to stop campaigning to abolish Ofsted, even if this remains your long-term ambition. Instead, put your energy into this unprecedented opportunity for real change now, and work together with others to make the system we’ve got better and kinder,” she told the conference in Bournemouth.
Her final point was to address teachers in the room: “If you are feeling anything close to how Ruth felt, I feel for you. She saw everything she had stood for in her career and her community destroyed in a moment by an unfair Ofsted decision. She was offered no way out.
“But let me tell you, suicide is always a terrible, wrong-headed option. Ending her own life was the worst thing Ruth could possibly have done. That desperate act devastated our family, her colleagues, the hundreds of her pupils and a whole community in Caversham and beyond. We shall all live with the devastation of Ruth’s appalling, preventable death for the rest of our lives.
“So if you are having thoughts about ending your life – please, think again. Get help.
“More than anything, I wish that Ruth was still here, calling for a better, more humane and effective schools inspection system herself. A world with Ruth still in it would have been a much, much better world for us all.
“… I’ll say it to all of you now, instead. You are trapped by an inhumane, unaccountable inspection system but you don’t have to put up with it anymore. If you feel despair, you need help and hope, not to think that suicide is a way out … Get help. Talk to those you love.
“You are not alone.”
Reading Today will not report on Ofsted inspections until the system has been reformed.
