{{Short description|British educationalist}} {{Use British English|date=April 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = Christopher Woodhead | image = Chris Woodhead.jpg | alt = | caption = Woodhead in a BBC interview, May 1999 | birth_name = Christopher Anthony Woodhead | birth_date = {{Birth date|1946|10|20|df=yes}} | birth_place = Southgate, Middlesex, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|6|23|1946|10|20|df=yes}} | death_place = London, England | office = Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills | term_start = 1994 | term_end = 2000 | minister = John Patten <br />Gillian Shephard<br />David Blunkett | prime_minister = John Major<br />Tony Blair | predecessor = Stewart Sutherland | successor = Sir Mike Tomlinson | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Cathy Greenaway|1969|1976|end = divorced}}|{{marriage|Christine Kensett|2006}}}} | partner = Amanda Johnston ({{circa|1970s–1980s}}) | children = 1 | alma_mater = {{ubl|University of Bristol|Keele University}} }}
'''Sir Christopher Anthony Woodhead''' (20 October 1946 – 23 June 2015) was a British educationalist. He was Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England from 1994 to 2000, and was one of the most controversial figures in debates on the direction of English education policy.<ref>The Times 3 February 1997 Valerie Grove interview</ref> He was Chairman of Cognita, a company dedicated to fostering private education, from 2004 to 2013.<ref name="cognita-bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.cognitaschools.co.uk/executive-team.html|title=Executive Team|publisher=Cognita|access-date=14 April 2011|archive-date=22 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322181749/http://www.cognitaschools.co.uk/executive-team.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Early life== Christopher Anthony Woodhead was born in Southgate, Middlesex, on 20 October 1946.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title = Woodhead, Sir Christopher Anthony (Chris) (1946–2015), schools inspector|last = Curthoys|first = Mark|date = 2019|doi = 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.110531}}</ref> His father was an accountant, and his mother a school secretary; he was an only child. He went to Selsdon Primary School<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.selsdonprimary.org.uk|title=Selsdon Primary School & Nursery}}</ref> on Addington Road in South Croydon, then Wallington County Grammar School in Surrey. Later, he graduated in English<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bristol.ac.uk/english|title=Bristol University - Department of English - Department of English|work=bristol.ac.uk}}</ref> at the University of Bristol, where he obtained a PGCE.<ref name=TelegraphObit />
==Early career== Woodhead briefly worked as an English teacher at Wallington County Grammar School for Boys.<ref name=TelegraphObit /> Subsequently, he taught at Priory School for Boys in Shrewsbury from 1969 to 1972, moving to Newent Community School from 1972 to 1974 as assistant Head of English.<ref name=TelegraphObit /> He obtained a MA in English from Keele University<ref name=TelegraphObit>{{cite news|title=Sir Chris Woodhead, Ofsted chief - obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11693238/Sir-Chris-Woodhead-Ofsted-chief-obituary.html|access-date=28 June 2015|work=The Telegraph|date=23 June 2015|location=London}}</ref> in 1974.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} His final teaching position was at Gordano School in Portishead as Head of English. During this period, he was noted for his espousal of "progressive" educational ideology, which he later recanted.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pearson|first=Alison|title=Meet the real Chris Woodhead|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4722001/Meet-the-real-Chris-Woodhead.html|access-date=22 September 2012|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=3 March 2001}}</ref>
In 1976, he left teaching, and subsequently moved into teacher education. He worked as a tutor on the Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) teacher training course at the University of Oxford<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/chris-woodhead/144978.article|title=Chris Woodhead|date=12 February 1999|publisher=}}</ref> and held a number of posts in education development, including Deputy Chief Education Officer in Devon (1988–90), as well as posts in Shropshire and Cornwall (1990–1).<ref name=TelegraphObit /> From 1991 to 1993 he was chief executive of the National Curriculum Council, and also of the SCAA from 1993 to 1994 (the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority later replaced by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) which replaced the National Curriculum Council and the School Examinations and Assessment Council from 1 October 1993.<ref name=TelegraphObit />
==OFSTED== Woodhead was appointed head of the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), the schools inspection service, in 1994.<ref name=TelegraphObit />
By this time, Woodhead advocated "traditional teaching methods" and took a scornful view of "progressive educational theories" introduced into English schools from the 1960s onwards. Supporters claimed that Woodhead was a radical reformer willing to tackle the failings of the education system and only encountering the defensiveness of the educational establishment. Critics argued that he was generating poor morale, rarely identified successes in schools, and that the "progressive teaching" he attacked was a straw man, with little resemblance to actual classroom practices. Woodhead most prominently identified weaknesses in schools with poor teaching and repeatedly asserted this view. Amongst his controversial remarks he claimed there were "15,000 incompetent teachers" and "I am paid to challenge mediocrity, failure and complacency". His blunt approach gained him many enemies, especially in the teaching profession.<ref name=TelegraphObit />
When the Labour government came to power in 1997 there was much political pressure to replace Woodhead, either immediately or when his initial term expired in 1998, but instead he was retained and his appointment renewed by Education Secretary David Blunkett.
===Resignation=== On 2 November 2000 Woodhead announced his resignation.
In February 2005, ''The Guardian'' obtained information<ref>{{cite news |url=https://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Education/documents/2005/02/03/minute.pdf |location=London |publisher=The Guardian |work=Her Majesty's Inspector |author=Barry Jones |title=Islington Green High School |date=27 November 1997 |access-date=11 June 2011}}</ref> using the Freedom of Information Act, which confirmed that in 1997 Woodhead had over-ruled a unanimous decision by his own inspectors, and a subsequent inspection visit by HMI inspectors, to declare that Islington Green School was failing and required special measures.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/feb/04/politics.freedomofinformation |location=London |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Rebecca |last=Smithers |title=Woodhead overrode inspectors to fail improving school |date=4 February 2005 |access-date=11 June 2011}}</ref> According to the head of the school at the time, "the consequences for staff and pupils were catastrophic".
==Later career== He was employed as a columnist for ''The Daily Telegraph''<ref name=TelegraphObit /> and ''The Sunday Times'' newspapers. Subsequently, he stated that he felt the school-inspection system was now in a strong position and that he "felt unable to defend some aspects of government policy".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/magazine/woodhead.htm |title=Reader's Digest - British Edition |access-date=2005-01-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041211123528/http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/magazine/woodhead.htm |archive-date=11 December 2004 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In 2002 ''Class War: The State of British Education'', a damning verdict on the systemic failures of British education, was published. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed a Professor of Education at the University of Buckingham.<ref name="cognita-bio"/> He continued to speak out in public on many issues relating to education at both school and university level, often provoking great controversy.
In 2004 Woodhead became chairman of Cognita, a company that owns and runs independent schools.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/apr/10/private-firm-profits-free-schools |title=Free schools: private firm Cognita 'milked profits' |author=Daniel Boffey |newspaper=The Observer |date=10 April 2011 |access-date=14 April 2011 |location=London}}</ref> Woodhead and Cognita were reported in the press as having expelled pupils, and were accused of "milking profits", and dismissing a whistleblower who accused the company of allowing ineligible teachers to participate in the state run Teachers' Pension Scheme.<ref name="expulsion">[https://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/oct/28/woodhead-private-school-expulsions Expulsion row hits ex-Ofsted chief Sir Chris Woodhead's schools empire], The Guardian, 28 October 2012.</ref>
In May 2009 his second book, ''A Desolation of Learning: Is this the education our children deserve?'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pencil-sharp.com|title=Pencil-Sharp Publishing|work=pencil-sharp.com|access-date=21 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711065106/http://www.pencil-sharp.com/|archive-date=11 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> a critical examination of the almost two decades of education policy and reforming initiative, was published.
He was on the Advisory Council of think tank Reform.<ref>Reform, [http://www.reform.co.uk/Aboutus/Ourpeople/AdvisoryCouncil/tabid/107/Default.aspx Advisory Council] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726200319/http://www.reform.co.uk/Aboutus/Ourpeople/AdvisoryCouncil/tabid/107/Default.aspx |date=26 July 2011 }}, accessed 15 May 2011</ref>
==Personal life and controversy== Woodhead met his wife, Cathy (née Greenaway), at Bristol, married in 1969 and had a daughter in 1975, his only child.<ref name = ODNB/> Shortly afterwards he left home and they divorced in September 1976.<ref name=observerarticle>{{cite web|last1=Bright|first1=Martin|title=The loves and lies of Chris Woodhead|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/apr/11/martinbright.theobserver1|website=The Guardian|date=11 April 1999 |publisher=GMG|access-date=30 July 2015}}</ref>
Later, Woodhead lived with Amanda Johnston, a former pupil of Gordano School, for nine years.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Pearson|first1=Allison|title=Meet the real Chris Woodhead|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4722001/Meet-the-real-Chris-Woodhead.html|website=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=30 July 2015}}</ref> They insisted that their relationship had begun after they had left the school<ref name=TelegraphObit /><ref name=Blunkettbacking>{{cite news|title=Education Minister backs Woodhead|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/274166.stm|access-date=1 July 2015|work=BBC News|date=7 February 1999}}</ref> but his former wife disputed this version of events and stated that she had been asked to consider a ménage à trois with Johnson when the latter was just 17,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hugill|first1=Barry|title=Woodhead lied about sex with pupil, reveals wife|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/woodhead-lied-about-sex-with-pupil-reveals-wife-1078839.html|website=The Independent|date=7 March 1999 |access-date=30 July 2015}}</ref> a claim in which she was supported by a number of Woodhead's colleagues at Gordano<ref name=TelegraphObit /> and Tony Robinson, who knew the Woodheads in Bristol.<ref name=observerarticle />
He was previously in a relationship with Ruth Miskin.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Aitkenhead |first1=Decca |title=His ex-wife says he's a liar. Teachers hate him. Few people believe his version of events. So why is the government so determined to save Chris Woodhead? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/1999/apr/22/schools.ofsted |access-date=9 January 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=22 April 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Pearson |first1=Allison |author1-link=Allison Pearson |title=Meet the real Chris Woodhead |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4722001/Meet-the-real-Chris-Woodhead.html |work=The Telegraph |date=3 March 2001 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130422042712/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4722001/Meet-the-real-Chris-Woodhead.html |archive-date=22 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Chittenden |first1=Maurice |last2=Carr-Brown |first2=Jonathon |title=In full cry for a head to roll|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA58011020&sid=sitemap&v=2.1&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E3c30fb98&aty=open-web-entry |work=The Sunday Times |date=25 April 1999}}</ref>
In 1999, he was heavily criticised for saying pupil–teacher relationships could be 'experiential and educative on both sides';<ref>{{cite web|last1=French|first1=Sean|title=As Chris Woodhead says, pupil-teacher sex is indeed "experiential". But so are war, crime and serious illness|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/chris-woodhead-says-pupil-teacher-sex-indeed-experiential-so-are-war-crime-and-serious-illness|website=The New Statesman|publisher=The New Statesman|access-date=30 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="Blunkettbacking" /> he later said he thought his remarks had been off the record.<ref>{{cite web|title=Education Pupil sex row deepens|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/273662.stm|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 July 2015}}</ref>
Cognita became embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal when it emerged that one of its teachers, William Vahey, at its Southbank International School had systematically sexually abused at least 60 pupils at the school over a period of years. Vahey taught at the school from 2009 to 2013. Woodhead was the chairman of the school board. Hugh Davies QC, who was appointed to look into the scandal stated that at the school, "The structures of governance did not deliver effective supervision of those with operational responsibility for child protection,"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/27/william-vahey-southbank-international-terry-hedger-hired|title=I'm desperately sorry, says head who hired paedophile William Vahey|first=Robert|last=Booth|date=27 November 2014|website=The Guardian}}</ref> and that child protection policies were not "fully understood and/or implemented" and there was a lack of training among the school's child protection officers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/31/southbank-international-school-london-paedophile-william-vahey|title=Elite London school accused of failings over paedophile teacher William Vahey|first=Robert|last=Booth|date=31 July 2014|website=The Guardian}}</ref>
He married again in 2006, to Christine Kensett, and lived in Herefordshire.<ref name = ODNB/><ref name=TelegraphObit /> Woodhead was knighted in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to education.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=59808|date=11 June 2011|page=1|supp=y}}</ref>
Woodhead enjoyed running and rock climbing until he was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative condition motor neurone disease in 2006. In an interview with ''The Sunday Times'' published on 3 May 2009,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6211832.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507014724/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6211832.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 May 2009|location=London, UK|work=The Times|first=Sian|last=Griffiths|title=Blairs Mr Education Chris Woodhead considers suicide|date=3 May 2009}}</ref> he stated publicly that he would prefer to end his own life than suffer the indignities of the final stages of the disease; in an interview he stated, "The truth is that I would be more likely to drive myself in a wheel-chair off a cliff in Cornwall than go to Dignitas and speak to a bearded social worker about my future."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5267559/Chris-Woodhead-considering-suicide-after-motor-neurone-disease-diagnosis.html|location=London, UK|work=The Daily Telegraph|first=Graeme|last=Paton|title=Chris Woodhead 'considering suicide' after motor neurone disease diagnosis|date=3 May 2009}}</ref>
Woodhead was a patron of Dignity in Dying and campaigned for an assisted dying law: "The problem with MND is that it just gets worse, which means everything becomes a matter of timing. If I knew that the choice of an assisted death at home was a reality it would bring me great comfort and happiness."<ref>[http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/about-us/patrons.html#Sir Christopher Woodhead Quote] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701211419/http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/about-us/patrons.html |date=1 July 2013 }}, dignityindying.org.uk; accessed 23 June 2015.</ref> Woodhead died in London on 23 June 2015, at the age of 68.<ref name = ODNB/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/education-33237986|title=Former school inspector Woodhead dies|work=BBC News|date=23 June 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= DOR Q2/2015 in WESTMINSTER (258-1A) |id= Entry Number 512221029 |url=https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp#Results |website=GRO Online Indexes |publisher=General Register Office for England and Wales |url-access=registration |access-date=6 December 2023}}</ref>
==See also== * Assisted suicide * Right to die * Euthanasia
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2000/nov/05/schools.ofsted His departure as seen by ''The Guardian'' in November 2000] * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/1004918.stm The public view on his departure in 2000] * [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2001/03/03/nwood03.xml&page=1 ''Telegraph'' 2001 article]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} * {{IMDb name|2308904}}
===Video clips=== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080717094550/http://www.teachers.tv/video/5083 Teachers TV]
{{s-start}} {{succession box | before= Stewart Sutherland | title=Chief Inspector at Ofsted | years=1994–2000 | after=Sir Mike Tomlinson }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodhead, Chris}} Category:1946 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Academics of the University of Buckingham Category:Alumni of Keele University Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol Category:British civil servants Category:Deaths from motor neuron disease in England Category:English educational theorists Category:Knights Bachelor Category:People educated at Wallington County Grammar School Category:People from Croydon Category:Schoolteachers from Gloucestershire Category:Schoolteachers from Somerset