‘Strictest head’ quits as the tsar for social mobility
BRITAIN’S ‘strictest headmistress’ has quit her role as social mobility tsar one year into the job because she was doing ‘more harm than good’.
Katharine Birbalsingh said yesterday she could no longer be chairman of the Social Mobility Commission because of her ‘controversial opinions’.
They include warning that William Shakespeare will disappear from classrooms amid pressure to decolonise and diversify the curriculum, and the low uptake of physics among girls was because they would rather not do ‘hard maths’.
Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said her departure was a worry for freedom of speech. ‘We need a hundred Katharine Birbalsinghs in our institutions, and the fact that she
‘People feel I need to be impartial’
has left raises suspicions about the pressures that are put on people who don’t have an orthodoxwoke ideology.
‘It’s certainly a matter of huge concern to people who are interested in freedom of speech.’
As the head of Michaela Community School in Wembley, Ms Birbalsingh became well known for her tough stance on behaviour, with silent corridors and pupils penalised for forgetting pens. The free school has achieved great results, with a 98 per cent 4+ (C) pass rate in the latest GCSEs.
She was appointed social mobility tsar in November 2021 but now says her outspoken opinions ‘puts the commission in jeopardy’. Ms Birbalsingh wrote in Schools Week: ‘I come with too much baggage. Over this past year, I have become increasingly aware that my propensity to voice opinions that are considered controversial puts the commission in jeopardy.
‘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. The commission team have been nothing but supportive, but I worry that all of our excellent work will be ignored by virtue of my presence.’ She said she had decided that ‘on balance, I am doing the social mobility commission more harm than good’.
Professor Alan Smithers, of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said: ‘I am very sad that Katharine has felt the need to resign. There is a lot of woolly thinking about social mobility from which the commission is not immune.
‘Katharine has not been afraid to tell us what is possible in education and the huge success of her school clearly demonstrates that she knows what she is talking about.
‘Not feeling free to speak openly is deeply damaging to education and society as a whole.’
Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch praised Ms Birbalsingh, thanking her for ‘successfully giving the organisation a strong sense of direction and purpose’.
Mrs Badenoch said Alun Francis, the principal of Oldham College and deputy chairman of the commission, would fill the chairman’s role on an interim basis. Mr Francis said he looked forward to working with Mrs Badenoch.