Katharine Birbalsingh, said to be Britain’s strictest headteacher, has quit as chairwoman of the Social Mobility Commission.
The founder of Michaela Community School had kept her full-time job while also chairing the commission, which is sponsored by the Cabinet Office.
However, she has acknowledged that her frequent tendency to voice controversial opinions “puts the commission in jeopardy” and is doing “more harm than good”.
Birbalsingh was appointed to lead the commission in November 2021 but she says that her “outspoken nature” has led to problems. She also claims that some of her comments have been misinterpreted.
She was criticised for telling a parliamentary committee that low uptake of physics among girls was because they would rather not do hard maths.
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Writing for Schools Week website, Birbalsingh said: “Over this past year I have become increasingly aware that my propensity to voice opinions that are considered controversial puts the commission in jeopardy.”
In her inaugural speech last June she said that there was too much focus on students going to Oxbridge or becoming top lawyers but that this had been misinterpreted as her believing that “working class people should stay in their lane’”.
She said: “Instead of going out there to bat for the team and celebrate our achievements, I am becoming a politician. And I can’t bear the idea of ever being a politician. It just isn’t who I am or a skillset I wish to develop.
“As headmistress at Michaela, my governors can decide whether or not they wish to employ me despite my outspoken nature. So I feel free to comment on society. But as chair of the commission, people feel I need to be impartial and it irks many that for many years I have been anything but. So in some people’s minds, I am not right for the job.
“Sadly, I have come to agree.”
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The commission recently said that it would investigate which teaching styles worked best to boost outcomes for poorer pupils but critics questioned whether this would only recommend the approaches employed by Michaela.
The school adopts a strict approach to behaviour, with silent corridors and pupils penalised for forgetting pens, but it achieves extremely good results and has one of the highest grades for pupil progress in the country.
Birbalsingh said: “I worry that all of our excellent work will be ignored by virtue of my presence.” Critics “could not imagine that I might have the integrity to publish unbiased research, whatever conclusions it came to”.
She continued: “So my hands are tied. My being chair means no commission analysis of what works in schools will be valued or respected, and education is crucial to social mobility. Leaving before key research takes place on schools also allows that work to happen without my perceived influence.”
