HEAD teachers in East Lancashire say Ofsted inspections fail to motivate staff and that they create extra work and stress.

Staff in the county were among 1,250 heads who responded to a survey by the National Union of Teachers on the controversial inspections.

Fewer than one in ten felt the preparation for an inspection was justified and fewer than one in five felt the inspection had led directly to school improvement.

Less than a third of teachers felt that the inspection team's experience matched well to the inspection needs of the school and more than half felt there was a lack of balance in terms of gender and ethnic minority group representation among inspectors.

East Lancashire NUT spokesman Simon Jones said: "Extra work and stress has been created for teachers in the area by Ofsted inspections.

"This would be justifiable if the outcome was valued by teachers and led to improvements in schools. But head teachers and staff in East Lancashire do not believe that is the case and, judging by the results of the survey, they are not the only ones.

"Teachers have overwhelmingly given the thumbs down to the present system of inspections. They say the ends do not justify the means and the levels of dissatisfaction are very high.

"The country is spending millions of a system which does not promote high quality education but, instead, leads to stress and illness for teachers and the disruption of children's education."

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