Revealed: ‘Unethical’ Ofsted ‘alerts’ tip off schools about inspections

Thousands of schools may be getting “highly unethical” alerts tipping them off to imminent Ofsted inspections by a firm that has developed an algorithm to predict possible visits based on website monitoring.

A Schools Week investigation has exposed what looks like a loophole in the Ofsted inspection system, which is built on the principle that schools should only be told about inspections at most the day before they happen.

Greenhouse School Websites claims to have “developed an algorithm to accurately tell when Ofsted are looking at your school website”. Inspectors look at key information documents from a school’s website between two and 14 days before inspections.

The firm has automatically signed its more than 2,000 school clients up to the “Ofsted alert emails” system, which was rolled out last month.

But when approached by Schools Week, some have since pulled out – calling it “highly unethical”. Ofsted has since said it will “look into” our findings.

‘This shows the high-stakes nature of Ofsted’

Ahead of inspections, Ofsted staff look up key information documents on school websites.

Greenhouse’s algorithm looks for a “pattern of behaviour typically associated with an Ofsted visit”, according to an FAQ document seen by Schools Week.

It then alerts leaders to a “possible Ofsted visitor”, before processing logs overnight and emailing again the following day detailing “any documents they viewed”.

Greenhouse acknowledged schools receiving alerts would not “necessarily” receive an inspection, adding: “We know that Ofsted undertake regular desktop research.”

However, the company also published what it claimed was an email from a school leader saying of the system: “It works! I received your texts throughout last week and we have an Ofsted today and tomorrow. The system was brilliant – can’t thank you enough.”

Julie McCulloch, director of policy at school leaders’ union ASCL, said the technology “may provide some schools with a more precise advance warning of an impending inspection”.

But “while this may be helpful to those schools, the risk is that it undermines the consistency which is an important part of a fair and equitable inspection system”.

She also warned the “fact that there is perceived to be an appetite for this technology in the first place is a reflection of the incredibly high-stakes nature of Ofsted inspection”.

‘It amounts to gaming the system’

Former senior inspector Colin Richards said such tracking, if it worked, “would amount to gaming the system. It would also give those ‘alerted’ schools an unfair advantage in inspection preparation compared with other schools.”

The company told Schools Week it started developing the system in the autumn “in response to demand from schools”. It was deployed on a “selection of sites” at the start of this year, soft-launched in February and has been “refined” since then.

Feedback was “overwhelmingly positive”, prompting the company to “spread the word to all of our schools” on Monday.

Director Graham Miles said schools had asked the firm to “help make sense of website analytics to understand whether their website’s compliance is being checked or monitored”.

The email alert is “intended to be a helpful guide if schools wish to use it”, but “of course, the system will also highlight any user that follows these patterns of behaviour”, including schools’ own staff.

“We know that good school leadership, governance and management practices will, however, always be the only way schools can be prepared for an Ofsted inspection.”

Leaders opt out of ‘unethical’ alerts

The service is provided at no extra cost, and schools can opt out if they choose. The company told Schools Week on Monday that no school had, but several said they had done so when approached by this newspaper.

Jackie Rose, interim head of St John Fisher Catholic Voluntary Academy in Dewsbury, told Schools Week she “did not realise we had opted into this system and have now sent them an email to say we do not want to be any part of an early warning system”.

“I think this is highly unethical and we would hope that we are always ‘Ofsted ready’.”

Greenhouse’s clients include several large academy trusts, including the David Ross Education Trust and the Bath and Wells Multi-Academy Trust.

Other high-profile customers include the Chiltern Learning Trust, West London Free School and Brampton Manor Academy. All were approached for comment.

A spokesperson for DRET said: “We understand that this unsolicited alerts system was switched on just a month ago. We have not received any information that has informed Ofsted inspections and have opted out of the service.”

The Chiltern Learning Trust said it was “only made aware of the new feature and how to opt out of email alerts recently” and had “taken the decision to opt out across the trust”.

‘Against the spirit of the system’

Mark Lehain, a former DfE special adviser who is now head of education at the Centre for Policy Studies, questioned the impact of a “week or so’s extra notice” on a school’s judgment.

He added there was an “ethical dimension to this – having this kind of possible insight for a fee when others don’t feels very much against the spirit of the system”.

Sir David Carter, the former national schools commissioner, said he didn’t “really know how this helps schools”, adding it could “increase stress…because people suddenly start to panic thinking that this is now looming”.

“I remember the days when I started being a head in the late 1990s, where you had about six weeks notice, and that drove the pressure through the roof. Every single day, and every decision you made was about counting down to the ‘big day’.

“There is something to be said for having very little notice and seeing the school as it is that day.”

An Ofsted spokesperson said the watchdog was “not aware of this particular system”, adding they would “look into it”.