(TW : discussion of Ruth Perry's suicide) To feel uncomfortable with the way Ruth Perry's death was described as 'the fault' of Ofsted?

I was following the story at the time and I think one head considered not letting them in before actually then doing so. The strength of feeling amongst people in education was huge though because of people's experiences with ofsted.

A popular education podcaster started a spreadsheet of "ofsted horror stories" and it was truly horrendous reading.

There was also the wording of the report they released, which was quite offensive and mentioned her death as basically a staffing change.

I'm not sure the new changes are any better but I really hope the culture of the organisation has somewhat changed.

Yes, but now they've changed it so safeguarding is separate.

They also changed it so that safeguarding issues that can be rectified quickly could have their grade rectified quickly.

As a childminder who was downgraded to requires improvement due to the most horrific inspection I'd encountered in over 10 inspections I can fully understand why that poor woman did what she did.
It could have been me. If it hadn't have been the immediate support I received from my family, friends and all my lovely children's families it could be a different story.
The feeling it gives you of failure (due to no fault of your own) is very, very difficult to come through. I consider myself very lucky. I will never get over fully the way I was treated and until you experience it yourself you can't understand it.

I'm really sorry about your brother.

I agree the new Ofsted system looks terrible, but the ability of heads to discuss the outcome and not have to keep it secret is a positive change. Lack of headline grade should have been a positive change, I'm not sure how the report card is going to pan out in terms of affecting house prices. I know one school that lost its outstanding to good and is now in the shit in terms of pupil numbers and are having to lay off staff. There shouldn't be such a distortion of everything around a school having that grade.

@Carla786 the correct checks on staff weren’t being carried out.

This did happen to me once, though from the other side. I taught for four weeks in a school; all fine. One Monday evening got a phone call saying my DBS and references hadn’t been completed! This was end of January and I was offered the job in October. I could literally have been anyone; could have just been released from prison for sex offences against young people; violence, fraud. Absolutely appalling safeguarding and they SHOULD have failed their OFSTED and been dismissed quite honestly!

It’s not OFSTEDs fault that their ratings affect house prices. They have to make an honest judgement within the framework they are given. While I agree that some of that needs rethinking, and I can believe they don’t always make the correct judgment, the system is what it is. Headteachers know that when they take on the role and accept the salary. It is a high pressure job but like I said, it’s not that hard to avoid a rating of inadequate, especially when it comes to safeguarding paperwork.

I just look at it like this: If the OFSTED inspectors hadn't been so over the top, she would probably not have killed herself.

They need to take a long hard look at themselves and ask what purpose they serve. Then go about doing that without the bullying.

Exactly.

And it needs to be acknowledged that it contributed to her suicide because otherwise there wouldn't be a Prevention of Future Deaths report that forces change.

It is unreasonable to attribute suicide to "other" people or organisations. It is solely the responsibility of the individual, and a choice they make for themselves.

But it did contribute.

Saying something 'contributed' to a death is quite different to saying that it 'caused' a death.

The way she was treated by Ofsted was a contributing factor in her suicide i.e. if they'd treated her better she'd likely still be alive.

I think that’s a fair summary.

Giraffe - I haven’t said ‘It wasn’t a factor.’

Let me put it another way. My brother killed himself nearly thirty years ago now because his girlfriend ended their relationship. That relationship ending was obviously a factor but that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t end relationships because someone might take their life.

It does mean that people should be kind and respectful in how they do that; it means that ideally people should be on the look out for signs of poor mental health in others (though it’s not easy) and I do agree with you that RP should have been able to share her worries and fears although whether she would or not can’t be known.

OFSTED have changed the system now and I’m not actually convinced at all it is any better!

If the inspector had been more reasonable (and I don't mean ignoring the failings, but being more humane). If she had been able to seek appropriate support. If she had been able to tell her friends and family. If she didn't have to worry about the impact of a single grade on the school community, including the prices of their houses....would it still have happened? The conclusion is that it may not.

Being a headteacher is a particularly intense job. If you lose your job or feel you have to resign after a bad ofsted then it's not like you can then go into another headship. Or just walk into another job that pays the same amount. You might have a mortgage to pay and other financial commitments.
Also there is the affect on the staff at the school, the numbers of parents who pick the school as their first choice which has a huge affect on funding and whether the school is now looking at huge upheaval. So a huge feeling of responsibility.

In so many other jobs people just fail upwards but a bad ofsted can literally ruin someone's whole life.

If the word being used was “caused” I’d agree with you, but the coroner said “contributed to” and that would appear to be correct.

I’m not familiar with this story but have spent a lot of time thinking about suicide since H died by suicide years ago now. I spent an awful lot of time feeling guilty and sorting through observations of his close relationships and things I felt weren’t right within them and could have contributed to his state of mind.

But ultimately suicide is an individual choice and is based on very dodgy thinking about oneself and dodgy attachments to the wrong things in life.
eg if you feel your sense of worth, purpose etc is attached to your job, house, family, friends etc, you’ll feel horrendous when you lose those things.

If you’re strong in your sense of self as worthy in your own right, just for existing, or if you grow through losses to build that strong sense of self, you won’t take your life.

So IMO there’s always much deeper fundamental reasons or hiccups in emotional development (probably usually in early childhood, outside of conscious awareness) that form the foundation for suicide or an inability to grow through loss later in life.

This may be an unpopular viewpoint but...

Half the problem is that the vast majority of headteachers have only ever been teachers. Went to school, went to college, got a PCGE, became a teacher, became a Head (maybe with a few other steps along the way!)

I went into teaching late - in my 40's, after a very successful (and stressful) career at senior UK level retail.

I was never ever stressed out by Ofsted. Not once did I have an issue them coming in, being observed, being critiqued etc. I actually wiped the floor with one particular obnoxious Ofsted man when he said he would have given me Outstanding except for x, y, z - well, what would YOU have done diffferently,..he didn't know. Absolute prat.

The point I'm making, because they haven't worked anywhere else, they place a lot of importance on these visits internally. Not saying they're not important, but if you're doing your job probably, anyone should be able to walk in at ANY TIME UNANNOUNCED and you'd pass with flying colours. They are not a life and death decider for anyone , or they shouldn't be.

There's a lot of Head teachers who have amazing skills with children and teaching but are way out of their depth in management positions - and the training in schools is frankly shite.

So no , I don't think ofsted should be to blame 100%. Do I believe they're a waste of space though - absolutely! Just let teachers teach. Maybe let managers manage?

I agree.

I have been suicidal and have come very very close to a suicide attempt. Whatever I may have felt at the time, I do not think it would be reasonable to have attempted to list anything or anyone else as a contributory cause of my suicide.

Again: "Reading comments made by Ms Perry before she died, the coroner said: “Ruth stated that ‘This is the most untherapeutic and inhumane system, to have this on one person’s shoulders. I am amazed there are not more heads killing themselves… the shame, the pressure, loss of income, where do I go next, I am too young to retire. The Ofsted system has to change. It is totally wrong that one person is made to feel like this.’”

She literally wrote that she was amazed that more heads weren't killing themselves as a result of Ofsted, before she died. But you think it wasn't a factor?

Suicide is certainly "more nuanced than that". But where is the appropriate support for teachers?

Another one who hasn't read the report. There were several factors above and beyond an 'unfriendly inspector'. Some of these have since been amended, like the removal of the single headline grade which is so influential that she was worried (correctly) that losing it would impact the house prices of the parents in her school community

I feel like the culture of everything being measurable in education is so destructive.

"You've got a 100% success rate, now make it 105%. And then next time 107%"

It's madness and there don't seem to be concerted efforts to row back from this.

Were things like this before school league tables came in?

We see headline news about Ruth Perry but what about all the other teachers and head teachers who have had their mental health broken?

I think if it was categorically proved that that would make all the difference then no. But suicide is more nuanced than that.

I’ve read the reporting although it was some time ago so may well have forgotten some details.

What stayed with me though is there were massive safeguarding failures at the school. I have no desire to be disrespectful or potentially cause any distress to the family, but I think out of respect that’s been largely glossed over. Had one of those safeguarding failures led to a tragic incident then a poor OFSTED would have been the least of the problems; note how the teachers from Sara Sharif’s previous school have been named despite them doing everything right as far as I can see.