Inspectors
The current Chief Inspector is Sir Michael Wilshaw, who was appointed in January 2012 replacing Christine Gilbert CBE. Gilbert was appointed in October 2006. One of her key briefs was oversee the expansion of Ofsted's remit from April 2007 to include the inspection of children's social services, adult learning and aspects of court administration, as this relates to children.
Prior to joining Ofsted, Sir Michael had a distinguished career as a teacher for 43 years, 26 of these as a headteacher in London secondary schools, and most recently as Executive Principal at Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney. In addition to leading Mossbourne Community Academy, Sir Michael was Director of Education for ARK, a charitable education trust running a number of academies across England.
Ofsted directly employs Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI), who are appointed by the Queen in Council. As of July 2009 there were 443 HMIs, of which 82 were engaged in management, 245 in the inspection of schools and the rest in inspection of other areas for which Ofsted in responsible. All HMIs inspecting schools have teaching experience.
Most school inspections are carried out by Additional Inspectors (AI) employed by external companies known as Regional Inspection Service Providers (RISPs). As of July 2009 there were 1,948 AIs, of whom 1,567 inspect schools. Almost all of these have teaching experience, except for a few retained from the previous regime in which each inspection team included a lay inspector.
An HMI accompanies an AI on 6–7% of inspections, including 75% of those of secondary schools. Reports produced by RISPs must be checked and signed off by HMI, sometimes with amendments, before publication. New Additional Inspectors must be monitored and signed off by HMI before working independently.
The number of RISPs contracted to conduct school inspections was reduced in 2009 from five to three:
- CfBT Education Trust, covering the North of England
- Serco Education and Children's Services, covering the English Midlands
- Tribal Group, covering the South of England
Read more about this topic: Ofsted