Keegan: ‘I’d have probably punched Ofsted staff’

The education secretary has told an audience of head teachers that she would have “probably punched” Ofsted inspectors who recently visited a school in her constituency.

Gillian Keegan told the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) conference in Liverpool that inspectors had been “really rude” during their visit to the school in Chichester.

A union boss said the remarks made light of violence in schools.

Asked about Ms Keegan’s remarks, Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver said inspectors and school staff alike “should act with professionalism, courtesy, empathy and respect”.

Ms Keegan told the packed auditorium she had been “shocked” by the school’s account of its Ofsted inspection.

“I thought: ‘God, if I’d have met these people, I’d have probably punched them,'” she said.

“They were really rude. I mean, you expect people to be rude to you when you’re a politician, you kind of sign up for that.

“But when you’re kind of trying to run a school and educate children and change lives, you don’t expect somebody to come in and not be respectful.”

Ofsted inspects and reports on anywhere that provides education for young people in England, including schools, nurseries and childminders.

Sir Martyn said it was “early days” since starting his role in January, but that he hopes to make a difference – referring to the suicide of head teacher Ruth Perry as a tragedy that should “never happen again”.

Mrs Perry took her own life while waiting for an Ofsted report and the coroner at her inquest ruled the inspection had “contributed” to her death.

Sir Martyn told delegates he did not apply for his job to allow for “business as usual”, but to bring change.

Over the next 12 weeks, Ofsted is asking parents and teachers to contribute to a consultation about how it should carry out inspections in future.

Mike Short, head of education at the Unison union, said Ms Keegan’s words were “not becoming of a government minister”.

“Making light of violence in schools when staff are increasingly likely to face assaults while doing their job is in very poor taste,” he said, adding that Ofsted inspectors “are already dealing with a great deal of hostility while they work”.

Last year, Ms Keegan had to apologise for her language after being caught swearing on mic as she expressed irritation over the concrete crisis in schools.

Elsewhere in her speech on Friday, she spoke about the “worrying” rise in children being absent from school.

It comes as the ASCL published new data on absences which suggests almost a third of the 8,411 teachers who responded to a survey have been told that some pupils are not attending because parents are in “disputes with the school”.

Taking a term-time holiday was also a common reason cited – for which almost 400,000 penalty notices were issued in England in 2022-23.