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

[Carla786]

From the evidence, it's clear that the Ofsted inspector behaved abominably and the whole organisation needs a thorough overhaul.

However, I was reading a recent thread on the Caroline Flack documentary and for all the differences, one thing that reporting of Flack's suicide has shared is that it has often explicitly laid blame for a suicide on someone else.

In Flack's case, the media have been blamed for her suicide. In Perry's case, the inquest explicitly blamed Ofsted, as did some media.

This makes me uncomfortable...maybe it's wrong of me to feel this way, but I think of the GC threads that originally drew me to MN. Threads on the reporting of suicides of trans teenagers often rightly pointed out the danger of media implying that external people/forces caused a suicide, noting that it contradicts guidelines that the Samaritans (among others) have for good reason.

Perry was an adult, but these guidelines aren't just for teenagers. I don't want to downplay the terrible way she was treated by Ofsted. But I just feel very uncomfortable about the implications of media and then the official inquest explicitly implicating Ofsted in her suicide.

Am I wrong to feel uncomfortable about this?

Thank you it was a long time ago now. As an adult I feel awful for his ex as well; at the time I hated her (unfairly of course) but I now realise how much more complex and difficult it all is.

I do think it was an absolute tragedy but it could have led to some genuine consideration of the stress teachers feel over OFSTED and some reforms as a result. As it is, the one word ratings are back under another guise.

I do think that the media were irresponsible in how the death was reported. There was a good article in one of the broadsheets that addressed this at the time and I am trying to find it and can’t, probably because you have to pay for it! But I will say that the message that self sacrifice is the way to get reform is a very dangerous one.

I don’t agree, @noblegiraffe , because consequences can be worked through and things put back together over time. Even reputation or career can be put back together if in a different trajectory - look at the number of politicians who have recovered from reputational damage and sleaze etc. I’m sure this headteacher would have had nothing as near as that to be ashamed of and yet she felt shame and overwhelmed enough to end it all. So what caused that? It’s an underlying foundation that’s not there - emotional resilience and sense of self.

ETA - I feel it’s very important as society that we understand this and stop with the hand wringing and misunderstanding and helplessness narrative around suicide. Psychologists and anyone who’s worked through their own suicidal feelings (I’m one of those too) know but it’s a really bitter pill to swallow because the answer lies in sorting out the quality of parenting in early childhood. The Princess of Wales gets this.

I don't know what mistake was made with regard to safeguarding, but the emphasis now put on this in schools makes me wonder how this could have happened. I also don't know what was meant by not being able to tell anyone either - where I work all SLT have always been fully in the know. Though our ratings have always been 'good', we'd certainly support each other if they weren't.

But I do think the OFSTED inspection "contributed" to her suicide. Though it can't have been the only cause imo. However committed, however much of a vocation it might be, it's still just a job, just one part of life. Or at least that's how I feel a mentally robust person would view it. There must be lots of former heads who have gone through similar and somehow worked out how to cope.

IMO, people don't understand just how guilt driven the job is.

Teachers, want to help and go into the job (and it should be seen as just a job) wanting to make a difference.

The often used meme "won't somebody think of the children" springs to mind.

And the truth is that schools are more often than not run on the goodwill of the teachers, and that is so often just against them.

The comparison I made is because reports about both suicides both put responsibility for the suicides on other people : media in Flack's case, Ofsted in Perry's.

I am NOT comparing Flack's behaviour to Perry's. The police did nothing wrong in Flack's case, they were right to arrest her for the assault.

That rule is terrible

@Carla786

The media in CF's case was being blamed not blaming others.

I am also not quite sure why you are so intent on linking trans suicides in to the discussion.

I think that it’s the system that contributes to such unbearable stress on teachers. There can be a way of holding accountability in a way that is both effective and humane.

Do you think that’s the right thing to do though? Safeguarding is pretty important. If procedures aren’t followed properly, the outcomes can be tragic. I’m not sure that the right thing to do is to brush over it and carry on when failings are identified. How many other high paid professionals can make huge mistakes and stay in their job without consequence?

Obviously the headteacher here needed more support than she had through the process. Suicide is a hive decision to take and then follow through, and if external factors are a contributor, then there has to be others equally as influential.

Yet you’re blaming people with regards to ‘Leelah’ @Carla786 American born male, attracted to males, but wanted to be seen as female, so blamed their parents for not paying for surgery? Again how is that related to a uk teacher bullied by a shitty regulatory body?

Thank you, this is what I feel.

Perry doesn't seem to have had any prior mental health problems, but that's just one factor that causes individuals to be more vulnerable.

@Lemonsugarpancakes I understand what you're trying to say, but no way would Ruth Perry have become a headteacher if she lacked resilience and sense of self. By all accounts she was very good at her job. Resilience can be worn down by repeated stress, like trying to survive as a school leader in today's high-stakes, high-accountability environment where schools have been bled dry of funding and Ofsted requirements have become a stick to beat people with.

The changes are welcome such as an end to single headline grades, but they're not enough. Schools need evaluation but Ofsted is rotten to the core, it needs to be overhauled or rebuilt as something completely different.

@beezlebubnicky absolutely not saying that Ofsted and others who inflict pain on people don’t need to take full responsibility for their actions.

I think the OP's point is that all the cases she's mentioned blame a third party for the individual's suicide. Her contention, along with others, is that it is a personal decision and it is wrong to blame external factors.

We shouldn't blame Ofsted for Ruth Perry's suicide.
We shouldn't blame the media for Caroline Flack's suicide.
We shouldn't blame Leelah's parents for Leelah's suicide.

I don't necessarily agree, but I think her argument is clear.

And this, it seems you’re keen to say others are not to blame in Ruth Perry, Caroline Flack, but trans? It’s because others were awful and didn’t do as they were told, so their fault?

Thanks, this is very interesting.

The head of my old school became a commentator on education after retirement and she also mentioned that the higher a teacher moves up, the more management they have to do, and the less time they have for what they actually wanted to do : teach. This needs to be improved....

No- where are you getting that impression? I said that the media reporting was worse for trans teens because it was even more contrary to the guidelines the Samaritans sets, reporting suicide methods, note contents etc

I'm saying that it's rightly been pointed out that linking a specific event/person etc to a suicide in media reporting has been recognised by the Samaritans as dangerous.
I agree with them.

I understand the point you are making.

In the round, you are not wrong that suicide isn’t often the result of one particular event. Indeed, the Samaritan’s media guidelines remind journalists (like me) of this, and warn against implying things are ever that neat.

However, you are wrong on this, and wrong to compare it to the poor data on trans identity and suicide.

The coroner has a duty, if he or she believes something has contributed to a death, to make that clear. In this case, the coroner believed a government process had contributed to a death, which is why as part of her job, she highlighted this. It’s a warning that there is something wrong here, and that others could be at risk.

Journalists can and should report exactly what happened in court. That is why they reported the findings. They didn’t (mustn’t) put in caveats, or pretend she found something less dramatic, or water it down. Court reporting involves telling the public exactly what the judgement is. It’s a key part of having open justice.

The Ofsted inspection was shown to have contributed, but it's not just bad inspections themselves that make a difference, it's also the culture around them and the pressure of single word judgements even in the community. That school was the one everyone wanted to live in the catchment of for years. That local pressure isn't something headteachers seek but it's still there, and it makes it all even worse.

A one word judgment by itself isn't even a sound basis on which to choose a school, and yet when you first start looking at schools that feels like the most important thing to look at, so parents contribute to building up the pressure even more.

It's frustrating that there are journalists and opinion piece writers who set up the straw man that people who knew her somehow want schools to be let off any failings. Actually Sarah Ditum was one and it's really lowered my opinion of her.

A system that to date has essentially seen a small number of suicides as acceptable collateral damage just isn't fit for purpose. You can still have complete accountability without that, you just have to be willing to try.

Those that move in to management are aware that they will be managing more than teaching, if they wanted to teach they would stay out of management.

IMO what needs to change is that the management in schools requires the correct training and by that I don't mean passing the relevant academic qualification to be a head.

They need to be trained in person management
Conflict resolution
money management
being objective
and reminded every hour or so about not having favourites within the school.

They did contribute though. The report doesn’t say they were responsible.

Ruth Perry’s family are in huge distress and you’ve somehow made this all about you and your discomfort. Do you work for Ofsted?

The head of my old school became a commentator on education after retirement and she also mentioned that the higher a teacher moves up, the more management they have to do, and the less time they have for what they actually wanted to do : teach. This needs to be improved....

Well, it isn't. Years ago, the 'upper pay scale' was devised to pay experienced teachers more money in order to keep them in the classroom, rather than them having to move into management roles which moved them out of actual teaching but was the only way to get a pay rise.

Now, there are thousands and thousands of UPS teachers across the country who are being sacked, bullied, forced out, placed on support plans or capability, signing NDAs because they are suddenly deemed to be failing teachers. This is because school budgets are so tight, heads would rather (or are forced to) hire cheap new teachers instead.

Older/expensive teachers are on the way out (if there are many left at all!) particularly in small primaries.

Yes, I do think it is the right thing to do to separate safeguarding from inspecting the quality of education. It's not 'brushing over concerns' or carrying on when failings are identified.

Safeguarding is like, I dunno, a food hygiene certificate. It's really, really important that it's inspected regularly. Safeguarding was not inspected at Ruth Perry's school for 13 years because it was outside the inspection cycle. That's totally unacceptable.

And equally, if there are issues in safeguarding, they need to be fixed quickly. Ofsted as a system is far too slow to deal with that effectively.

Thank you! As I said in my OP, I am GC and came here originally due to that.

I can see that people are probably thinking, 'It's not wrong to refuse to give dangerous puberty blockers and affirm lies to a child. But it IS wrong to act the way Ofsted did.' And I agree.

But in ALL these cases, I'm uncomfortable with the media contravening the Samaritans guidelines, guidelines they have for a good reason. In Perry's case, I'm also wary of the coroner saying that, though that is different from media.

If Ofsted contributed to her suicide, which they did, then it needs to be treated like a workplace death and investigated thoroughly, and changes made to prevent future reports.

If you insist on saying that we should pretend that Ofsted didn't contribute to her death, then what lessons could be learned?