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| Michael Gove denies attack on Ofsted chief | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Education Secretary Michael Gove has said his team has not briefed against England's chief inspector of schools and anyone who did would be "instantly dismissed". | Education Secretary Michael Gove has said his team has not briefed against England's chief inspector of schools and anyone who did would be "instantly dismissed". |
| Earlier Sir Michael Wilshaw accused staff at the Department for Education of briefing against his organisation. | Earlier Sir Michael Wilshaw accused staff at the Department for Education of briefing against his organisation. |
| It came after the Times said two right-leaning think tanks were to criticise Ofsted - one urging it to be scrapped. | It came after the Times said two right-leaning think tanks were to criticise Ofsted - one urging it to be scrapped. |
| Earlier Sir Michael told the Sunday Times he was "spitting blood" over it. | |
| Think tanks Policy Exchange - which was set up by the education secretary - and Civitas both confirmed they were working on reports on Ofsted, but denied their work was being done with encouragement from the Department for Education. | |
| 'Superb professional' | |
| On Friday, the Times reported both think tanks were preparing to call for a radical overhaul of the Ofsted inspection regime, claiming it was trapped by 1960s "progressive" approaches to learning. | |
| It said Civitas would say Mr Gove's wish for schools to develop their own approaches to teaching was being held back by child-first orthodoxies among inspectors, who were stifling innovation. | |
| Policy Exchange, the paper said, would say the current inspection regime placed disproportionate pressure on teachers, while its judgments were too inconsistent. | |
| In a statement on Sunday afternoon, Mr Gove said Sir Michael was a "superb professional and an outstanding chief inspector" who was making the changes Ofsted needed to help raise standards. | |
| He said: "No-one working for me has had anything to do with any campaign against him or briefing against him. No one working for me has sought to undermine his position. Anyone who did would be instantly dismissed." | |
| Sir Michael said he was "proud" of his team at Ofsted and always sought "to defend them from unfair criticism and those setting out to make mischief". | |
| "I have talked to the secretary of state today and I know that he is 100% supportive of my leadership," he said. | |
| 'End of matter' | |
| "I was very pleased to be assured by the secretary of state that there are no briefings against Ofsted from the department or people working for him," he said. | |
| He said both men now hoped "this is the end of the matter" and he was looking forward to continuing to work closely with Mr Gove to ensure school standards continued to rise. | |
| Sir Michael, who inspects children's services as well as schools in England, was appointed by the coalition and he and Mr Gove have been thought of as allies. | |
| Sir Michael has also drawn criticism from teachers' unions in the past, and defended his organisation, saying it had done "more to raise standards in 21 years of existence than any other organisation". | |
| Earlier Civitas director David Green said the idea that Mr Gove was directing its criticism of Ofsted was "well wide of the mark", saying the think tank had had "serious misgivings" for years. | |
| "The fact is, whatever Sir Michael Wilshaw's intentions, we know schools that would like to innovate are scared to do so because of the misguided notions of many Ofsted inspectors. It would not be in Michael Gove's power to 'call off' our criticism whether he wanted to or not." | |
| A spokeswoman for the Policy Exchange confirmed that it too was working on a report on Ofsted, but said: "We haven't been told to do that and if we were we wouldn't." |