School leaders are being pressurised “to the point of destruction”, the head of a teaching union has said, as he put the education establishment “on notice”.

During a speech to the union’s annual conference in Belfast, Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), outlined his criticisms of Ofsted, the schools watchdog for England . .

The two-day gathering, which began on Friday afternoon, is the first of its kind since Ofsted introduced a “Nando’s-style” scorecard inspection framework in November – a move vigorously opposed by a number of teaching unions.

Paul Whiteman.…