Sue Littlemore: Teachers are overreacting about inspections

A day after the National Union of Teachers published a survey claiming that inspections damaged teachers' morale and did little to improve schools, the Office for Standards in Education is set to publish its own survey, which is likely to draw very different conclusions.

The Ofsted survey, in which more than 1,200 English primary schools were questioned by Mori, is expected to show that a large majority of teachers were satisfied with their experiences of an inspection.

This is in marked disagreement with the findings of the teachers' union survey which quoted a headteacher as saying that the Ofsted inspection was "the most intimidating experience of my life - the whole effect on upon staff and pupils was negative".

The survey findings are likely to be used by the Chief Inspector, Chris Woodhead, as evidence that teachers are not as overwhelmingly negative towards the inspection process as claimed by the National Union of Teachers.

The union's general secretary, Doug McAvoy, had used his own survey as evidence of the need for a reform in how schools are inspected.

The latest survey is also expected to claim that only a small number of teachers believe inspections to be more of a hindrance than a help for school improvement.

In contrast, the survey conducted for the National Union of Teachers found a large majority of head and deputy teachers claiming that inspections did not lead to better standards in schools.