The education secretary has said her comments about punching Ofsted inspectors were “off-the-cuff remarks made in a light-hearted manner”, as she swerved a trade union’s call to publicly retract the statement.
Gillian Keegan said she would have “probably punched” disrespectful Ofsted inspectors, during a question-and-answer session at the Association of School and College Leaders conference in Liverpool last month.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, which represents inspectors, wrote to Keegan on March 11, urging her to retract the “inflammatory language”, which he called “unacceptable in any context, let alone coming from the secretary of state”.
But, in a response sent on Tuesday, seen by FE Week, Keegan said: “As I think you know, the comments you refer to were off-the-cuff remarks, made in a light-hearted manner in a very particular context, and in the spirit of expressing support for headteachers and teachers in the audience.
“Clearly, I would not be punching anyone, or advocating anyone else do so, and to imply otherwise would be completely wrong.”
Keegan goes on to state she is a “strong advocate and staunch defender of Ofsted, and the important work it does”.
“It is precisely because Ofsted and its inspectors play such an essential role that we must strive to ensure that all inspections are conducted to the highest possible standard. The vast majority are, but not all.”
At the ASCL conference, Keegan recalled feeling “shocked” after hearing from a school leader about the conduct of inspectors during an inspection.
She told the audience: “I heard recently actually from a fantastic school I went into, [and] they told me how their Ofsted experience had gone.
“I was shocked, I was actually shocked. I thought, ‘God, if I’d met these people, I’d have probably punched them.’ They were really rude.”
Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s chief inspector, was asked about her comments at the time and said he thought “people should act with professionalism, courtesy, empathy and respect on both sides”.
In her letter, Keegan echoed Oliver’s remarks, saying she “strongly” supports “his mission to make sure that Ofsted’s culture and practice always has professionalism, courtesy, empathy and respect at its centre”.
But Penman rebuked Keegan for her response and said she “could have gone further to rebuild trust with inspectors”
“It’s disappointing that the secretary of state has not publicly retracted her comments, as we urged her to do in writing last month,” he said.
“We welcome her acknowledgement that Ofsted inspectors play an essential role and I know our members share her belief that we must strive to ensure that all inspections are conducted to the highest possible standards.
“However, it’s clear she could have gone further to rebuild trust with inspectors, so that crucial work to improve inspection arrangements could be carried out in a collaborative approach, based on mutual respect.”
FE Week’s sister publication Schools Week previously revealed Ofsted data on complaints relating to inspector conduct.
In the 2020-2021 financial year, 39 complaints from 2,585 inspections related to concerns over the conduct of inspections (1.5 per cent). The number of inspections this year was lower than normal amid Covid.
In the 2022-2023 financial year, Ofsted received 171 complaints raising conduct concerns out of a total of 7,615 inspections (2.24 per cent).
I made a comment at the time expressing shock that someone in her position could make such a remark. No surprise that it has taken so long for this limp response to come through. There could have been several much better ways to backtrack on them. Without having been at the inspection in question she has accepted someone else’s word of some form of poor conduct (that warranted a thump!) and has made a judgement about the school herself based on a short staged visit. It might be a good idea to accompany an Ofsted team on a random two day inspection rather than a carefully picked one. Inspectors often face hostile leaders and staff in schools and such comments have added fuel to the fire.