International research has shown that school inspection and the media are both powerful influences on education policy. Since 2010 the government has sought to implement radical changes to the English education system, creating a new system of autonomous schools that support one another through formal or informal partnerships. These changes have…

In this paper, we explore some of the keywords around which the practice of school inspection is ordered in England. As part of a project that explores the role of inspection in governing schooling in England, Scotland and Sweden, we have examined some of the key sources through which Ofsted (The Office for Standards in Education, Children's…