I have been re-reading a book by an HMI in which he has a pop at teachers. No change there, then, you say. But wait. This is not just any HMI. This is Mr AJ Swinburne BA, who worked as HMI in Lancashire and Suffolk for 35 years from about 1875 to 1910.
His book, published more than a century ago, is a delight, not least for the wonderful stories he tells of life, travel and alarming encounters as a house guest of vicars and squires. “Preserve me from houses where private lunatics are taken...”
But it is in his descriptions of the many classrooms he visited and the children, teachers and school managers he met that we find the truth and wisdom of this remarkable man. His words give us so much to reflect upon about children, teachers and the ever-familiar challenges faced by inspectors and inspected.
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