Birmingham’s business leaders have accused the head of Ofsted of “ill-informed” attacks on Birmingham after he claimed the city council’s education department was “pretty useless”.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools, was .
He told MPs they should “really worry” about what was happening in Birmingham schools, and said the education authority should be “broken up”.
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But the unprecedented public attack on the city has been condemned by Jerry Blackett, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, who said the Ofsted boss was deliberately trying to damage Birmingham.
Mr Blackett said: “Sir Michael forgets that these public and high profile attacks go way beyond supporting the city in improving schools performance, safeguarding or governance.
“While we have no intention of belittling the serious issues at play, Sir Michael’s comments cross the line from independent advice on the schools system to a full on attack on the city of Birmingham.
“The independent chief inspector of schools should be motivated by overall improvement for the children of the city. Instead, his tirades appear to be motivated either by politics or self-publicity or both.
“He entirely ignores the numerous success stories and positive examples from the area to focus on the negative experiences of a minority.
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“There is real appetite for partnering with industry amongst many of the region’s education establishments and a number of industry-leading activities underway that demonstrate the innovative, forward thinking nature of the area.”
And he added: “Sir Michael seems to have no understanding of this work, and what his remarks actually do is reduced the morale of existing staff and make any progress more difficult.”
In his evidence to MPs, Sir Michael also questioned the decision to build a high speed rail line called HS2 linking Birmingham with London, Manchester and Leeds.
But Mr Blackett said: “This remark is ill-informed, unwarranted and well beyond the purview of a Chief Inspector of Schools and indicates that Sir Michael is on a mission to discredit Birmingham in every way possible.
“Birmingham is a stand-out success in terms of foreign direct investment, business start-ups, a booming leisure and tourism industry and more. It remains a fantastic place to live, work and start a business and will, I have no doubt, make a success of HS2.”