HMI (Her Majesty's Inspectors). The first two inspectors, Seymour Tremenheere and the Revd John Allen, were appointed in 1839 to supervise the proper spending of £30,000 for the education of the poor. Dr J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth, the secretary of the Committee of the Privy Council for Education, determined that inspectors should be independent, ensured that they were appointed by order in council. Kay-Shuttleworth emphasized the inspecting rather than the examining role of HMI, stating that ‘inspection is not intended as a means of exercising control, but of affording assistance’. However, with the introduction of the revised code (or ‘payment by results’) in 1862, whereby teachers' salaries depended on pupils' attainment in the three Rs, the role of HMI was seriously distorted; from this time they became hated and feared in elementary schools. With the advent of Liberal governments in the later 19th cent., this rigid system was modified. By 1895, payment by results came to an end. After the 1902 Education Act, the inspectorate was restructured into elementary, secondary, and technological branches. The Education (Schools) Act 1992 established the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), which took over many of HMI's functions.

Peter Gordon

HMI Abbrev. for human-machine interface. See human-computer interface.

HMI Her (or His) Majesty's Inspector (of schools)
• Her (or His) Majesty's Lieutenant
• Computing human-machine interface