The leader of a Suffolk headteachers' group believes newly announced changes to Ofsted inspections don't go far enough to support teachers' mental health.
Rebecca Leek, executive director of Suffolk Primary Headteachers' Association, said the changes, which were announced on Monday, have not addressed all of the issues that were raised after Ruth Perry, a Berkshire primary school headteacher, took her own life when her school was downgraded by Ofsted in January.
The changes, some of which will begin with immediate effect, include giving schools more information about the timing of their next inspection and further clarity about the threshold for effective and ineffective safeguarding practices.
Reports will also begin to refer to the school rather than individual staff members when discussing issues and the Department of Education has promised to provide extra funding to support the wellbeing of school leaders.
Ms Leek, however, said these changes do not go far enough to address the challenges school staff face and has slammed the decision not to remove one-word assessments, for example 'good' or 'inadequate', from Ofsted reports.
"The line from Ofsted is that one-word assessments are needed for parents and children, but quite what does that mean?" she said.
"One-word assessments create distrust around educators, and what is it actually solving for the parent or child? It just creates worry."
While she has welcomed the news that reports will refer to schools rather than individual teachers if issues arise, Ms Leek said the 'deep dive' inspection model, which sees a set number of teachers looked into in detail during each inspection, needs to change in order for it to be fairer to schools of all sizes.
"The Ofsted handbook and methodology is still ill-suited to primary schools, in particular small schools," she said.
"There seems to be an endemic distrust and distain for educators from the government. Teachers are trained professionals who don't need controlling, they need supporting."
She added that further funding needs to be provided for schools in order to support staff and their mental health, as well as provide the best environment for children.
This comes as the Education Committee has today launched an inquiry into Ofsted's work and school staff have been invited to submit written evidence by July 20.
Ms Leek said: "The key thing to take away from all of this is that they thought this issue was going to go away.
"There was an unleashing of evidence and emotion from the profession in the wake of this tragedy and the response has been so loud.
"All this work we have been doing as a profession is not going away and can't be ignored," she added.
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A Department of Education spokesman said: "We believe that one-word ratings are the clearest way to give parents confidence in choosing the right school for their child.
"Ofsted ratings play an important role in making sure education is the best it can be, as well as making sure children are safe in school.
"However, we know that some teachers and school leaders would like to see some changes to the way inspections are carried out.
"We want all school leaders to have confidence in the inspection system, and for it to be as useful as possible, for teachers, parents and children alike.
"These reforms will have a real difference and will make sure that Ofsted continues to be a valuable source of impartial information, which is trusted by teachers and leaders."
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