Further investigation revealed the use of such practices was widespread and an open secret in schools, with discussions on school IT professionals forum Edugeek about setting up an \u201cOfsted early warning\u201d system dating back as far as 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, inspection teams were understood to look at key information documents from a school\u2019s website between two and 14 days before inspections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By monitoring who was downloading documents, schools were able to work out if this was an inspector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inspection system is built on the principle that schools should only be told about inspections at most the day before they happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister says Ofsted has ‘made changes’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When pressed about Schools Week\u2019s<\/em> investigations this month<\/a>, schools minister Damian Hinds revealed Ofsted had \u201cmade changes to its processes around how, and when, inspectors access school websites.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is understood this means documents are downloaded much closer to \u201cthe call\u201d informing schools they are due to get an inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted is \u201calso continuing to consider proportionate technical options to hide or disguise its access to school websites prior to an inspection,\u201d Hinds added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Schools Week<\/em> understands this includes the use of virtual private networks (VPNs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hinds also urged schools \u201cnot to use this kind of service\u201d and said: \u201cSchools do not need to take any extra steps to prepare for Ofsted inspections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted said the changes were \u201cintended to stop schools from monitoring website traffic, we won\u2019t be putting specific details about them in the public domain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Colin Richards, a former senior inspector, said Ofsted and DfE \u201chave clearly been embarrassed\u201d by the investigation \u201cand are afraid to give anything away \u2013 even at the cost of a lack of transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Frank Norris, another ex-inspector and senior manager, said he understood why they \u201cdon’t want to alert schools to how they might be able to avoid website searches undertaken by inspectors being detected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Norris added: \u201cIt is, however, a sad reflection of the inspection process that schools feel the need to try and gain an advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department for Education also refused to say whether it had carried out a formal investigation into the practice when alerted to it last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Damian](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Damian-Hinds-500px-970x1024.jpg\")
‘A sad reflection of the inspection process’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n