‘Appeaser’ heads who tolerate bad behaviour

Too many senior teachers in Britain’s schools are ‘appeasers’ who are prepared to put up with appalling behaviour, Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned.

In a stinging attack on poorly-performing secondary schools yesterday, the head of Ofsted said pupils were being failed by weak senior teachers who were prepared to put up with mediocrity.

Calling for more ‘battlers, bruisers and battle-axes’ rather than ‘appeasers’, he attacked sloppiness and classroom disruption as damaging to social mobility.

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Sir Michael said more bright young teachers needed to be attracted into the most challenging schools, but that many were being put off by bad behaviour.

He said: ‘We need headteachers in our secondary schools that are going to be really transformative leaders, and we have not got enough of them.

‘We need battlers, we need bruisers, we need battle-axes who are going to fight the good fight and are absolutely determined to get high standards. We have got too many appeasers in our secondary schools who are prepared to put up with mediocrity.’

Speaking in a panel debate at a Sutton Trust conference in London, Sir Michael argued that if England wants to do as well as other nations, every secondary school needs to have a good atmosphere of scholarship.

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