Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) was an

executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...

of the Scottish Government, responsible for the

inspection An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity. ...

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

and

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

s, as well as

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

s, community learning, Local Authority Education Departments and

teacher education Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their ...

. HMIe and

Learning and Teaching Scotland Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS or LT Scotland) was a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, formed by the merger of the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum (SCCC) and the Scottish Council for Educational Technol ...

were merged in 2011 to create

Education Scotland Education Scotland ( gd, Foghlam Alba) is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, tasked with improving the quality of the country's education system. Origins The creation of the Agency was announced by Scottish Government Education a ...

History

The first HM Inspector of Schools (HMI) was appointed in 1840. The rationale for the first appointments of HMI linked inspection to "the improvement of elementary education" and charged HMI to say "what improvements in the apparatus and internal management of schools, in school management and discipline, and in the methods of teaching have been sanctioned by the most extensive experience". The particular focus in Scotland on combining inspection with self-evaluation has been central to the drive to raise educational standards. HMIe was headed by

Her Majesty's Senior Chief Inspector of Education Her is the objective and possessive form of the English-language feminine pronoun she. Her, HER or H.E.R. may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Music * H.E.R. (born 1997), American singer ** ''H.E.R.'' (album), 2017 * HIM (Finnis ...

. Its remit was far wider than its English counterpart, the

Office for Standards in Education The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, includ ...

. HMIe's equivalent in Wales,

Estyn Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Its name comes from the Welsh language verb ''estyn'' meaning "to reach (out), stretch or extend". Its function is to provide an independent inspection and advice service on quality ...

, had a similar remit, including adult education. Following the

Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was on ...

the Inspectorate was made an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government in 2001, and HMIe was answerable to the Scottish Ministers for the running of the Inspectorate and the whole inspection system in Scotland. In 2003 it employed 178 staff who were based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. A policy to disperse public sector jobs then led to the relocation of the headquarters from Edinburgh to

Livingston, West Lothian Livingston ( sco, Leivinstoun, gd, Baile Dhunlèibhe) is the largest town in West Lothian, Scotland. Designated in 1962, it is the fourth post-war new town to be built in Scotland. Taking its name from a village of the same name incorporated ...

along with the opening of new offices in

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders P ...

and

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

. On 14 October 2010 the Cabinet Secretary for Education announced that HMIe would be brigaded with

into a new executive agency of the Scottish Government to be known as the ''Scottish Education Quality and Improvement Agency''. This was later renamed

, and came into existence on 30 June 2011. Senior Chief Inspector 1999 to 2002: Bill Clark
Senior Chief Inspector in 2009: Graham Donaldson
Senior Chief Inspector 2010 to 2017: Dr Bill Maxwell
Senior Chief Inspector from December 2017: Gayle Gorman

Remit

HMIe was charged with inspecting the quality of education in

pre-school A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

centres,

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

special school Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

s, community learning and development,

further education colleges Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

, initial teacher education, residential educational provision and the education functions of

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

and services for children. Following the passing of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. 2000 Act the focus of HMIe shifted to how this legislation is being implemented. It brought new statutory powers to inspect the education functions of local authorities.

References

External links

* {{authority control Education in Scotland Educational administration Executive agencies of the Scottish Government Public bodies of the Scottish Government 1840 establishments in Scotland Organisations based in West Lothian

History

Remit

See also

References

External links