The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is an organisation responsible for the inspection of independent schools in England which are members of organisations affiliated to the Independent Schools Council (ISC). The Inspectorate is a separate company and has its work monitored by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). It is one of three independent schools inspectorates empowered to carry out inspections through an agreement with the Department for Education (DfE). ISI's work is monitored by Ofsted on behalf of the DfE. Independent schools which are not members of the ISC are mostly inspected by Ofsted but some are inspected by the Schools Inspection Service (SIS) or Bridge Schools Inspectorate (BSI). Ofsted was also responsible for all boarding school welfare inspection but ISI has, as of January 2012, taken this on for schools belonging to organisations affiliated to the ISC.
The service is run by a Board of Directors, some members of which are representatives of individual school associations, plus three other independent representatives including Mark Stephens.
The head of the service, known as the Chief Inspector, is Christine Ryan.
Independent schools in other parts of the United Kingdom are inspected by the relevant national inspectorate:
- Northern Ireland: Education and Training Inspectorate
- Wales: Estyn
- Scotland: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education
Famous quotes containing the words independent and/or schools:
“Men will say that in supporting their wives, in furnishing them with houses and food and clothes, they are giving the women as much money as they could ever hope to earn by any other profession. I grant it; but between the independent wage-earner and the one who is given his keep for his services is the difference between the free-born and the chattel.”
—Elizabeth M. Gilmer (1861–1951)
“In schools all over the world, little boys learn that their country is the greatest in the world, and the highest honor that could befall them would be to defend it heroically someday. The fact that empathy has traditionally been conditioned out of boys facilitates their obedience to leaders who order them to kill strangers.”
—Myriam Miedzian, U.S. author. Boys Will Be Boys, ch. 3 (1991)