Schools Week<\/em> it was \u201caware that on some occasions inspectors can have issues with the EEG, for example connecting to WiFI due to the provider they are in or to the system itself\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\nBut they said these issues were \u201cmore frequent when the system was first introduced\u201d and inspectors have been \u201cinstructed to use other means to record their evidence in these circumstances\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The watchdog also said it believed there had \u201conly been a very small number of instances since 2019 where we have declared an inspection incomplete as a result of a technical issue\u201d. This was said to potentially be as low as one or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In those instances, \u201cwe have then returned to the school to collect more evidence to ensure the judgement is secure\u201d, the watchdog said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ofsted issued guidance to inspectors in 2019 on \u201censuring the integrity of the evidence base\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The guidance, which has since been updated and simplified, said inspectors experiencing \u201cminor issues of misplaced evidence\u201d should \u201crecapture the salient points from memory as soon as possible\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where they were \u201cunable to record or retrieve evidence electronically\u201d, inspectors were told to record it in Microsoft Word or on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘For years it was incredibly unstable’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n On \u201crare occasions\u201d, the quality of the inspection \u201cmay be at risk\u201d, at which point it \u201cmay be necessary to deploy an additional inspector or additional inspectors or extend the timescale of the inspection to avoid it being deemed incomplete\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The guidance also accepted that in \u201cexceptional circumstances\u201d, the loss of electronic evidence \u201cmay only occur or be discovered after the end of the onsite inspection but before drafting or publication of the inspection report\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One ex-inspector said: \u201cFor years it was incredibly unstable. Inspectors would find all their evidence had disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another inspector described \u201cdifficulties with it since it was put in place\u201d, but said it had become \u201cmore reliable and user-friendly over time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There have been \u201clots of examples of people losing large swathes of typed evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a recent submission to the Parliamentary education committee, a group of six former inspectors, including former trust leader Frank Norris, warned the EEG\u2019s effectiveness was \u201chindered by a lack of trialling and an unwillingness to accept its flaws and feedback\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘A cause of great stress’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n \u201cSuffice to report that much resource was wasted and much evidence was lost or had to be rewritten, and was the cause of great stress to inspectors who had to use this system which is now under review. Better four years late than never.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ofsted said its \u201csystems and processes are under constant review\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They take the \u201cprocesses we use to come to an inspection judgement very seriously\u201d and said judgments were all \u201cbacked up by sufficient evidence from the inspection team and are quality assured by senior staff in Ofsted\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDaniel Kebede<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf quality assurance found there was \u201cinsufficient evidence on the system to support the judgement, inspectors would be instructed to return to the school to gather and record further evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, accused Ofsted of feeding \u201cbotched data\u201d into a \u201cbroken system\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe disservice to the profession and to parents is appalling, and the reluctance to admit the error for years is simply not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ofsted\u2019s latest guidance, issued in 2022, tells inspectors that can\u2019t resolve technical issues to record evidence in Word and then transfer the information into the EEG within 24 hours of the inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It no longer instructs inspectors to re-write evidence from memory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Electronic evidence gathering system has faced technical issues since it was launched in 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":198770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[25],"post-theme":[2378],"class_list":["post-198786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ofsted","post-theme-ofsted"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
![\"Daniel](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Daniel-Kebede-inset-400px.jpg\")