ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects the logo of the new Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED): Improvement through Inspection. The successful implementation of the reforms introduced in legislation since 1988 has depended on the capacity of each school to manage its own affairs. Schools were expected to draw up School Development Plans (SDPs) to make their priorities explicit and to enable them to review progress. School Development Planning has developed in different ways in different schools. This makes it difficult to generalise about practice in general. The inspection framework was produced and modified shortly before the first inspections. The schools were asked to rate the value of each of the three phases: pre-inspection preparation, the inspection itself, and the inspection report. Schools where the OFSTED team leader was not known were more positive than those where he or she was known to the school before the inspection.
