Dame Christine Gilbert McNulty ( McGinty) is an English schoolteacher who was the Head of

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

(HMCI) also known as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills between October 2006 and 30 June 2011.

Early life and education

Gilbert was born Christine McGinty into a Catholic working-class family and went to a convent school in London. She studied at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

where she obtained a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree (BA) in English and History. She furthermore received a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum an ...

degree (MEd) and a

Postgraduate Certificate in Education The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE/PGCertEd) is a one- or two-year higher education course in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and South Africa -where it can take up to three years- which provides training in order to allow graduate ...

(PGCE).

Career

Gilbert trained as a history teacher. She said, "I couldn't get over the fact that there were children of 14 or 15 in front of me who couldn't read," so took an

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

reading diploma to learn what she should do. At the age of 32, she became head of Whitmore High School, and then promoted to Director of Education for the

London Borough of Harrow The London Borough of Harrow () is a London boroughs, London borough in northwest London, England; it forms part of Outer London. It borders four other London boroughs London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the east of ancient Watling Street, Watl ...

. She became Director of Education for the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and ...

in 1997 where she led the transformation in performance and quality of local schools. The percentage of students gaining

General Certificate of Secondary Education The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

or equivalent at good grades (A*-C) was raised to 56% from 26% in under a decade. Later she became Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets.

Ofsted

Gilbert became HM Chief Inspector on 1 October 2006, replacing Maurice Smith. One of her key briefs was to oversee the expansion of Ofsted's remit from April 2007 to include the inspection of children's social services, adult learning and aspects of court administration, as this relates to children. Miriam Rosen, Gilbert’s successor, wrote in The Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2010/11, "In concluding this commentary, I want to take the opportunity to say a brief and personal word about Christine Gilbert, who finished her term as HMCI during the year. Christine brought the new Ofsted together from its predecessor organisations in 2007. She brought extraordinary energy and personal drive to the service of children and learners. She passionately believed not only that everyone deserves the best from the services they use, but that every child can and should achieve and do well. That has been the vision which has animated Ofsted for many years, and it continues to do so today".

Post Ofsted

Since Gilbert left Ofsted, she is a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

at the

UCL Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's University College London#Facultie ...

. She undertook a number of reviews including chairing the Academies Commission which published Unleashing Greatness: Getting the best from an academised system (2013). On Monday 5 November 2012, Gilbert took up a post as Acting Chief Executive of the Council in the

London Borough of Brent Brent () is a London boroughs, borough in north-west London, England. It is known for landmarks such as Wembley Stadium, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Swaminarayan Temple and the Kiln Theatre. It also contains the Brent Reservoir, W ...

, initially for a six-month appointment, succeeding Gareth Daniel who left at short notice earlier in the year, but stayed for three years. Since 2016, she has been the Chair of Future First, a charity that champions the establishment of a thriving alumni in every school so that young people can benefit from motivational role models. Currently, she is also Chair of Camden Learning, a school-led locality partnership that drives excellence and equity.

Education beliefs

When she went into education she initially taught the 'whole books' method and believed in it, but seeing the effects of the National Literacy Strategy, realised for those of school age the explicit teaching of

phonics Phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing to beginners. To use phonics is to teach the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language (phonemes), and the letters (graphemes) or groups of letters or syllables of the written ...

was important. Gilbert is joint chair of the Area Education Partnerships Association (AEPA) and an advocate of local education partnerships.

Personal life

Divorced from her first husband, she met then councillor and later government minister Tony McNulty when she was Director of Education for the

. The couple married in September 2002 in Hammersmith and Fulham. She has no children from either marriage. In 2010, ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic Church, Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by ...

'' named her as one of Britain’s most influential

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. Gilbert was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to local government and to education, and promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those ...

for services to young people and charity.

References

External links

Official declaration of her appointment in 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Christine 1961 births Living people School inspectors Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Reading People from Edmonton, London English people of Irish descent English schoolteachers