Sir Michael Wilshaw (born 3 August 1946) was the Chief Inspector of Schools in England and 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 ...

from 2012 until 2016. A teacher by profession, he is a former headteacher of

St Bonaventure's St Bonaventure's is a Roman Catholic boys' secondary school and sixth form in Forest Gate, London, England. The school was founded in 1875. History St Bonaventure's was founded as a private Roman Catholic school in 1855, by members of the F ...

and

Mossbourne Community Academy Mossbourne Community Academy, or MCA, is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational secondary school and sixth form with Academy (English school), academy status, located near Hackney Downs off the A104 road (England), A104 road, in the Lower Clapton a ...

, and was briefly interim Headmaster and later executive principal of JFS.

Career

The son of a postman, Wilshaw grew up in a

Roman Catholic 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 ...

household in

south London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

in the 1950s. He went to Clapham College, a south London grammar school, and then St Mary's teacher training college in

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. He later studied part-time for a History degree at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

while teaching in various London schools. At the age of 39 he was appointed head teacher of St Bonaventure's Catholic School, also known informally as St. Bon's, in

Forest Gate Forest Gate is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England. It is located northeast of Charing Cross. The area's name relates to its position adjacent to Wanstead Flats, the southernmost part of Epping Forest. ...

, London. Whilst there, he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the New Year Honours for 2000 "for services to education". In 2003, Wilshaw was appointed executive principal of

in Hackney in London. In November 2011, Wilshaw was announced as the successor to Christine Gilbert as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools at Ofsted. He took up his five-year term from 1 January 2012. In 2015, Wilshaw was paid a salary of between £195,000 and £199,999 by Ofsted, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time. Speaking on BBC TV's ''

The Andrew Marr Show ''The Andrew Marr Show'' is a Sunday morning talk show presented by Andrew Marr. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2005 to 2021. The programme replaced the long-running ''Breakfast with Frost'' as the network's flagship Sunday talk show when Dav ...

'' in the wake of the GCSE English results controversy in August 2012, Wilshaw said the row was a "really good opportunity" to examine whether examinations were "rigorous enough", adding that "Two-thirds of our schools are good or better. We have got a third of schools, 6,000 schools, that are not good, that are satisfactory and below. We have to make sure that schools know they have got to get to good soon as possible. We have given them a prescribed period of time, up to four years, in which to get to good." From 1 January 2017 Wilshaw has been a board member of the

Education Policy Institute The Education Policy Institute (EPI) is an education policy think tank that aims to promote high-quality education outcomes through research and analysis. It is based at 150 Buckingham Palace Road, in central London. History It was formed in 2016 ...

, a Westminster-based

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

. In February 2021, speaking on BBC Newsnight about schools re-opening on 8 March during the coronavirus pandemic, Wilshaw said that medical professionals have "gone the extra mile at great cost to themselves and their families, their health - they have sacrificed their lives in some cases. We need a similar commitment from the teaching profession over the next academic year." In June 2021, Wilshaw became headmaster of JFS school until the end of the 2021 summer term. He then became the school’s executive principal following the end of his tenure as headmaster. He is also the Chief Academic Adviser to the

Lyceum International School Lyceum International School (, ), popularly known as Lyceum and its students as Lyceumers, is the largest International School network in Sri Lanka providing all pre-primary, primary and secondary education, and the largest School in Sri Lank ...

Offices held

References

External links

Ofsted's official blogs in Sir Michael's name about inspection results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilshaw, Michael 1946 births Living people Heads of schools in London Knights Bachelor Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London People from Twickenham British civil servants