Christopher Woodhead

Sir Christopher Woodhead
Woodhead being interviewed by the BBC, May 1999
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills
In office 1994–2000
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Minister	John Patten Gillian Shephard David Blunkett
Preceded by	Stewart Sutherland
Succeeded by	Mike Tomlinson
Personal details
Born	Christopher Anthony Woodhead (1946-10-20)20 October 1946 Cockfosters, London, England, UK
Died	23 June 2015(2015-06-23) (aged 68)
Nationality	British
Known for	Chief Inspector of Schools, Chairman of Cognita

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. He was Chairman of Cognita, a company dedicated to fostering private education, from 2004-13.

Woodhead's father was an accountant, and his mother a school secretary; he was an only child. He went to Selsdon Primary School on Addington Road in South Croydon, then Wallington County Grammar School in Surrey. Later, he graduated in English at the University of Bristol, whence he obtained a PGCE.

Woodhead briefly worked as an English teacher at Wallington County Grammar School for Boys. Subsequently, he taught at the Priory School in Shrewsbury from 1969 to 1972, moving to Newent Community School from 1972 to 1974 as assistant Head of English. He obtained a MA in English from Keele University in 1974. 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, something he later recanted.

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 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). 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.