ABSTRACT
The Office for Standards in Education's (OFSTED) inspection process was put in place in order to evaluate the standards and quality of the education on offer in our schools, with the intention of eventual improvement of this offer. Classroom teachers are clearly key players, but they have nevertheless been largely ignored by researchers, who have tended to focus on school management teams or on the inspectors themselves. The first stage of the research project involved 40 secondary and middle schools and 850 teachers. The data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively, but, as in any research conducted via self-report. The interactions in inspection are complex, and in order to achieve clarity, the results are presented under three main, but interrelated, headings: perceptions, behaviours and intentions to change practice. This research project has looked at the views of teachers who are being inspected because they are at the heart of the main function of schools, effective teaching and learning.
