Highly praised education chief quits post

A Government adviser who will be praised today for transforming Birmingham's schools has announced his retirement.

A Government adviser who will be praised today for transforming Birmingham's schools has announced his retirement.

Professor Tim Brighouse, Birmingham's chief education officer, has been described as a "saint" by teachers for his unstinting praise for their help in the city, and a "nutter" by a former Conservative secretary of state for education.

Professor Brighouse, 62, said the job "needs more energy than I shall be able to give it in the years ahead". He will stand down as soon as a successor is appointed – probably in the autumn.

He was an adviser to David Blunkett during his time as the opposition education spokesman, and was an undoubted influence on Estelle Morris, a Birmingham MP and now Secretary of State for Education and Skills.

Ms Morris said yesterday that she "owed him a great deal for his sound advice, support and encouragement and his ability to re-energise me".

A report today from the education standards watchdog Ofsted will praise both Professor Brighouse and the city council's education team for a transformation in standards. It will point to Birmingham as a model education authority for others to follow.

Since Professor Brighouse arrived in the city in 1993, test and exam results have improved year-on-year and at a faster rate than the national average. In last year's GCSEs, 41.4 per cent of all pupils achieved five top-grade A* to C grade passes, compared with 33 per cent five years earlier. In national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds, 71 per cent reached the required standard in English, 67 per cent in maths and 85 per cent in science, compared with national averages of 46 per cent, 44 per cent and 48 per cent respectively.

Professor Brighouse, a Labour Party supporter, used money he won in a libel action against John Patten, a former Conservative education secretary, for one of his most innovative reforms – setting up a University of the First Age at Aston University so youngsters from deprived backgrounds could get a taste of university life and seize the chance to go on to higher education.

Mr Patten had described Professor Brighouse as a "nutter" who roamed the streets frightening little children.

When Labour came to power, Professor Brighouse was appointed joint chairman of Mr Blunkett's task force on raising school standards, alongside his arch-enemy, Chris Woodhead, then Chief Inspector of Schools. The adviser had described Mr Woodhead's stewardship of Ofsted as a "reign of terror", while Mr Woodhead criticised his fellow joint chairman for being responsible for much of the "woolly" thinking he believed was responsible for destroying education.

Professor Brighouse pioneered target setting – a key part of the Government's education reforms – but insisted it should be from the bottom up, with teachers encouraged to set their own ambitious targets for their pupils.

It was also his idea to make Birmingham the first home for "cluster" secondary schools. Two "collegiate academies" – clusters of up to six schools that will develop different specialities and share their expertise – will open in the city in September.