Ofsted inspectors ‘make up evidence’ about a school’s performance when IT fails

Inspector tells Observer investigation that top officials are aware that computer system crashes can wipe out data

Ofsted inspectors have been forced to make up" evidence because the computer system they use to record inspections sometimes crashes, wiping all the data, an Observer investigation has found.

Since 2018, inspectors have made live notes on laptops or tablets as they interview staff and observe lessons, after Ofsted invested in a new electronic evidence gathering (EEG) digital platform. However, our investigation has discovered the technology has had serious issues from the beginning, sometimes crashing unexpectedly and losing all notes from interviews, or even whole days of evidence, so that inspectors have to replace those notes from memory without telling the school.