LABOUR’S Bridget Phillipson was repeatedly heckled and booed by National Education Union conference delegates today after failing to commit to the abolition of Ofsted.

Addressing members in Bournemouth, the party’s shadow education secretary only called for the schools inspectorate to “turn a corner” and make improvements. 

NEU president Daniel Kebede was forced to intervene amid shouts of “Ofsted is not welcome here.” The union overwhelmingly backed a motion on Monday to replace the inspectorate’s “failed project with educationally sound alternatives.”

After Mr Kebede asked those interrupting the speech to leave, about 100 did so, chanting “What do we want? No more Ofsted! When do we want it? Now!” outside the conference hall.

As the impromptu protest continued, NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney told the remaining delegates that Ofsted is a “toxic brand which must go,” but argued the union should be ready to engage with any political party on the issue.

After her speech, Ms Phillipson said: “I want to speak to teachers, to leaders and to parents about how we make that change [to Ofsted]. But if that’s going to be effective, it’s got to be a two-way process and that means genuine engagement.

“You can’t be in a conversation if you’re not taking part in the conversation. If people don’t want to engage, that’s their choice.”

The MP for Houghton & Sunderland South also failed to condemn the Tory government’s academisation drive. 

When asked by the Morning Star whether she agreed with a motion debated at conference today that declared that “deregulation, outsourcing and the academisation programme have fundamentally damaged” education, Ms Phillipson said that all staff deserve enhanced pay and working conditions. 

“We need to make sure we get a better deal for all workers, and that applies to education just as it does right across every sector,” she said, without mentioning academies, which are run by trusts and can set their own curriculum and term times. 

Earlier, speaking for the motion — set to be voted on Wednesday — Melanie Griffiths, a delegate from York, said: “You can’t control what you don’t own, and the people no longer own the education system.”

Mr Courtney has previously warned the evidence to justify the Tory government’s push for all schools in England to join multi-academy trusts by 2030 is badly flawed. Ministers must “drop their ideological obsession with marketisation,” he said last month.