Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education

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's equivalent in Wales, Estyn, had a similar remit, including adult education.

[1] A policy to disperse public sector jobs then led to the relocation of the headquarters from Edinburgh to Livingston, West Lothian along with the opening of new offices in Dunbartonshire and Ayrshire.

[2] On 14 October 2010 the Cabinet Secretary for Education announced that HMIe would be brigaded with Learning and Teaching Scotland into a new executive agency of the Scottish Government to be known as the Scottish Education Quality and Improvement Agency.