ABSTRACT
Michael Sadler wrote no monograph on education and held no university post in comparative studies; he was thwarted in his ambitions throughout a long career in educational administration; and he is a barely remembered Oxford head of house who was ridiculed in his day for his fussiness and his vulnerable sense of dignity. What is significant for comparative studies in education is that Sadler’s work at the Office of Special Inquiries and Reports established the value of the systematic collection of data on a wide range of aspects of education and of the use that might be made of such data in policy development. Sadler can count as one of the most influential figures in education outside politics in the first half of the 20th century. That he did not attain the high offices to which he aspired was the result of the perspicacity of those who saw that he would not be a success in a quasi-political role.
