The new Ofsted Academy is planning to crackdown on the “big industry” in “pirated” Ofsted materials, Tes has learned.

The newly appointed chief of the Ofsted training arm told Tes that he is concerned about use of inaccurate materials which can lead to some headteachers becoming “prey” to education consultants.

Matthew Purves, a former Ofsted regional director for the South East and now head of the Ofsted Academy, vowed to crack down on consultants selling advice to schools on Ofsted inspections based on inaccurate information.

The Ofsted Academy was announced by Ofsted as part of a major overhaul of inspections last week, following concerns about the inspection system raised by the sector in the Big Listen consultation.

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The training hub will draw together topics from attraction and induction to training and development, the head of the new training arm told Tes in an exclusive interview as he took up his new role.

“We have an economy in the sector of education consultancy,” Mr Purves said, which involves “explaining Ofsted and producing tick lists for schools”.

Ofsted needs to put “more of its training out there in context”, the Academy lead continued, to avoid those who do not share the same expertise of the inspection system filling the gap.

Mr Purves said the academy will lead a move away from sharing slides to publishing training material much more frequently featuring commentary from experienced inspectors.

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The watchdog previously raised concerns over education consultants trying to “cash in” on inspection changes in 2019, after Ofsted became aware that schools were being sold insights into the new Education Inspection Framework before it was formally launched.

A key focus for the Academy will be to share training and resources with school leaders, Mr Purves said, which will “allay some of that anxiety” that leaders have over inspections and make authentic Ofsted material “hard to mistake”.

Mr Purves told Tes he was approached by education consultants offering him advice on Ofsted inspections in 2020 after joining Academies Enterprise Trust as director of education services - despite the fact he had helped to write the watchdog’s 2019 framework.

“I had just finished writing the education inspection framework with colleagues, and on my first day [in the role], I had five separate people come to me and say, ‘Matthew, don’t worry, I can teach you how to be ready for an Ofsted inspection under the education inspection framework’,” Mr Purves said.

He added that his knowledge of the framework meant he knew the consultants who approached him had no interaction with Ofsted.

“When I looked at their materials, I knew they bore absolutely no relation to what the framework was focusing on,” he continued.

Pirated Ofsted slides sold to heads

Mr Purves told Tes that he became concerned about school leaders who did not share his inside knowledge and were at risk of falling foul of inaccurate information.

“Thousands of leaders in schools around the country didn’t necessarily know about the inaccuracy of the materials and were prey to [those approaches],” he said.

Mr Purves said that while “not all school improvement advice is wrong”, he has seen “plenty of pirated Ofsted slides sold to headteachers”.

He added that there is a “big industry” that acts to “exploit the anxiety around inspection” for schools that use these resources.

“What we need to do through the academy and making resources available is to explain Ofsted through that so it’s hard to mistake and allay some of that anxiety,” he said.

Referring to the new inspection criteria that Ofsted will introduce in September next year, Mr Purves said schools will be “better served” by using the free, official Ofsted materials, rather than “someone else’s version of what Ofsted might have said”.