ABSTRACT
Even after the full implementation of the Education Act 1988 which gave the Secretary of State some 415 new powers. It is doubtful whether the vast majority of primary schools can be thought to have anything approaching a meaningful relationship with the Department of Education and Science. The National Curriculum will determine the content of the curriculum, and national testing will check on children's progress through that body of knowledge, but any 'relationship' will be a oneway affair in which the Department of Education and Science (DES) hands down the National Curriculum to the schools. What relationship a school has with the DES exists through the contacts with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI), and in most cases these contacts are very limited. The nature of the HMI's role is also heavily dependent upon the nature of the role of the DES. Thus, during the 1950s and 1960s HMI seemed almost unnecessary because of the non-interventionist role of the DES.
