ABSTRACT
Most teachers have now had the experience of being inspected. For some it was as bad as most of the stories said it would be. For most it was a professional experience which recognised the work that was being done and gave some pointers for future work. One of the problems has been that the horror stories become more dramatic in the telling and the myths and legends grow. There are bound to have been schools which have had bad experiences but the overwhelming picture is of schools finding the inspection process useful. It may have been stressful, hard work, deflecting from the agenda the school was working on, and a bit of a letdown afterwards, but it was professionally useful. As schools get re-visited, there will be more confidence, more awareness of the process, more initiative taken by the schools rather than ‘having it done to them’, and a better use of the chance to review the work of the school using an agreed agenda.
