Sir Michael Wilshaw: Positive discrimination good for schools

The head of Ofsted today said he supports positive discrimination in schools because it is important for teaching staff to reflect the ethnic mix of pupils.

Sir Michael Wilshaw said if he were still a headteacher and two candidates were equally qualified he would employ the one who best reflected the make-up of pupils in the school.

The schools inspectorate chief also claimed it is the duty of all schools to promote tolerance and teach children about the different cultures that now make up Britain.

He said schools should be free to hold Nativity plays without fear of offending other cultures, as long as pupils are also taught about different religions.

Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC today, Sir Michael said: “I think there needs to be a fair representation. If the ethnic mix is very diverse, it’s important to have a staff which reflects that.”

Responding to a listener, Sir Michael said: “Every headteacher I have ever met wants the best person, best qualified person, best communicator in front of children and will put that as the first priority in appointing staff. I have always worked in inner-city environments with youngsters from different ethnic backgrounds and always felt it was important to try and get a staff mix in that sort of environment.

“If I have two people applying for a job of equal merit and I felt we needed to increase the number of teachers from ethnic minority backgrounds… then I would apply positive discrimination as long as the two people were of equal merit.”

Sir Michael was headteacher of Mossbourne Academy in Hackney until he became chief inspector in 2012. It is believed to be the first time he has talked about positive discrimination in schools, but an Ofsted source said it was not the watchdog’s policy.

His comments come after a school in Lincolnshire was marked down in an Ofsted report partly for being “too English”. Sir Michael today stood by the decision, saying that pupils from Middle Rasen Primary School needed to know about other cultures.

Referring to the “Trojan Horse” scandal in Birmingham, Sir Michael said schools must be held to the same standards. He said: “All schools have to teach tolerance.”