Makes an important contribution to existing teachers' competence in the area of quality enhancement and presents reflections on practice distilled over a lifetime of work in education.

*Explores the best acknowledged ways to maintain and improve school education in the UK *Highlights ways for achieving required standards (such as DfEE standards) *Explores the need to find the right balance between external inspection and internal self-examination as methods for identifying sustainable improvements in schools. While predominantly directed at quality in schools, the book looks outward to quality assurance routes used in FE/HE colleges. It provides a practical opportunity for assessing the effectiveness of methods of quality measurement and shows that inspection is a necessary, but not solely sufficient, condition to develop quality.

'This book is a useful addition to the body of literature that informs teachers and policy makers in the ever increasing, but so often misunderstood area of quality in education.' - M. Waring, British Journal of Educational Studies'What Hoy et al. do is make a convincing case that issues around change and development in education are complex and highly political. Furthermore, the drive to control human relations through the mistrust of teachers is detrimental to pupil learning, and so what is important about this book is not only the critique of officially approved systems but also the presentation of an alternative approach.' - Helen Gunter, Educational Review