Commenting after the passing of motion 18 at NEU Annual Conference, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"Suicides have been linked to unmanageable workloads, national assessment procedures including inspections and league tables, and long working hours. Recent studies suggest that work-related stressors such as Ofsted inspections and the pressure to perform under the threat of poor Ofsted ratings have been connected to recent suicides. Coroners’ inquests into the suicides of too many teachers have heard that they took their own life before or after an Ofsted inspection.
"The NEU believes that because Ofsted can cause severe levels of harm, it poses a health and safety risk which should be assessed and controlled just like any other workplace hazard. The union has launched a risk assessment guide to help employers, in consultation with the recognised trade unions, assess the extent of harm that may be caused by the Ofsted process and take practical steps to minimise these risks. Only when serious efforts are made to do so will we see an end to the needless waste of life which has blighted the profession for far too long.
"The NEU supports the Hazards Campaign and joins with other TUC unions in calling for a change in the law so that employers are required to report work-related suicides to the Health and Safety Executive, and that HSE is required to investigate such deaths. HSE action on suicides could save lives.”