Ofsted has enacted a “contingency plan” to help inspectors record notes when inspections resume in January, after more “technical problems” with its electronic evidence-gathering (EEG) system.
Inspectors will be given “alternative processes to record their notes on inspection” due to issues with EEG, which has been dogged with problems since it was introduced in 2019 to replace pen and paper records.
An email sent to inspectors by Ofsted, seen by FE Week‘s sister paper Schools Week, has revealed “an underlying technical issue” has been “causing EEG to freeze when inspectors type notes directly into the application”.
The email said a “contingency plan” has been put in place. Thanking inspectors for their “patience and collaboration”, Ofsted said it had “further developed” these arrangements ready for January inspections.
From January 5, “all inspectors will need to follow the updated EEG contingency plan on all state-funded school inspections, standard and additional independent school inspections, further education and skills inspections and initial teacher education (ITE) inspections,” it said.
The email said this “is a temporary measure” and that it will provide an update “by February half-term”.
Inspectors must watch an online briefing on the EEG contingency plan before carrying out inspections in the new year.
Ofsted ‘not aware of any data losses’
In a statement, an Ofsted spokesperson said the “technical problems” are due to a Microsoft issue. The EEG is a digital application built using Microsoft technology.
“While our supplier works to resolve the issue, we have provided inspectors with alternative processes to record their notes on inspection,” said the spokesperson.
“We are not aware of any data losses related to technical issues with EEG – inspectors are recording their notes as instructed.”
Ofsted said it would not provide any further details of the alternative processes that have been put in place.
The inspectorate has previously said the EEG helped inspectors better “review and synthesise their notes” and that it has made a “notable improvement” to security.
Yet over a three-year period between 2021 and 2024, glitches in the system meant evidence was lost on 191 different occasions.
Only four of these incidents resulted in inspectors returning to gather extra evidence, and Ofsted said it was “confident that the judgment…is secure” in the other 187 cases.
In January, Ofsted published a review of the EEG and how robust and reliable it is.
The review said “there have been some technical issues with stability and reliability” since the EEG was introduced. “Some of these issues link to the application itself, and some to the Microsoft technology it is built on.”
‘Uncertainty and additional workload’
The review said Ofsted has made improvements over time, but that “on some inspections there are still issues with the application intermittently ‘freezing’ and closing unexpectedly.”
“This does not automatically affect the recording or saving of an inspector’s notes, but it does create uncertainty and additional workload for inspectors.”
It comes as inspectors are adjusting to a new education inspection framework (EIF) after Ofsted overhauled its inspection process.
Under new “report card” inspections, providers are graded across up to 16 judgment areas using a new five-point scale.
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