Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain

School Inspection in England: A Re-appraisal

The Ofsted regime of school inspection (shortly to be extended to Colleges of Further Education) has been highly controversial. It has been a key element in the Government's campaign to raise educational standards. Colin Richards undertakes here a carefully reasoned critique. He argues that Ofsted promises more than it can possibly deliver, and that there is a wide and unacknowledged element of subjective judgement in school inspection. He argues too that Ofsted has no coherent and defensible theory of what it does. Colin Richards sees a continuing and important role for Ofsted, or for some successor inspection regime, but only after its whole process, values and methodology have been subjected to the radical review that this pamphlet argues they urgently need. 

THE AUTHOR
Colin Richards was formerly one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, and is now Professor of Education at St. Martin's College, Lancaster. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 
Editorial Introduction 
Overview 
Introduction 

• What is Inspection? 
• Aims, Values and Inspection 
• The Language of Inspection 
• The Inspection of Standards 
• The Inspection of Teaching and Learning 
• Other Limitations of Inspection 
• Conclusion: Possibilities of Inspection 

Notes 
References 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

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