Who is the man chosen at short notice to head the independent inquiry into A-levels?
When the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, suddenly found herself in need of someone who would command universal trust and respect, she chose “a safe pair of hands” – the former chief inspector of England’s schools and cricket fan Mike Tomlinson. He was born in October 1942 and educated in Rotherham and Bournemouth. He studied chemistry at Durham University and obtained his PGCE teaching certificate at Nottingham University, then taught in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire between 1965 and 1977. Ofsted posts In 1977 he spent time as the schools/industry liaison officer with the petrochemical company ICI. He became a member of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate in 1978 and was a senior figure in Ofsted since its establishment in September 1992. His first post there was that of deputy director of inspection and – from 1995 – he was one of two directors of inspection. He headed the team which went in to run the troubled Ridings School in Halifax a year later, when it was named the worst schoo
