ABSTRACT
For 152 years Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI) operated as an efficiency inspectorate with few executive functions and no statutory powers, except the right of entry to educational institutions granted in the 1944 Education Act. This lack of role definition gave the Inspectorate an enviable flexibility and a capacity to respond to the political and educational climate. The 1968 Select Committee recognised that the number of HMIs could be made to fit the work which the Inspectorate was asked to do, but found that the size of about 500 had remained for many years and the work had been made to fit the number. In 1979 the Policy Group for Inspection was formed in order to bring HMI and civil service planning closer. This enabled HMI to plan an inspection programme, the results of which could be used subsequently to guide government policy-making. Many of the Ofsted inspectors are former HMIs, teachers or local authority employees who have taken early retirement.
