As an example of this attitude, he cited teachers in Poole, Dorset, who he said had marked the end of their inspection by burning their personal assessments in the school playground, without having read the contents.

"Many in the world of education," he said, "think it is wrong to either praise a school or an individual teacher for doing well or criticise bad schools and incompetent teachers."

Attempts to create examples of excellence, such as the "beacon schools" project, he said were hampered by "a deep-seated reluctance to admit that other schools may have something to learn from them".

Beacon schools can be used as an example to neighbouring schools

Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Woodhead said that "successful schools ... reward success and probe failure. They do not try to pretend all is equally well in every classroom."

"We need more such schools. We will not have them until we have confronted the defensiveness and the ideological silliness which explains the burning of inspection grades in that Poole playground".

The chief inspector's comments are made against a background in which the possibility of performance-related pay for teachers is being debated.

The chair of the House of Commons' Education Select Committee, Margaret Hodge, and the General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, David Hart, have both suggested that a more flexible approach to pay would allow the achievements of successful teachers to be reflected in their salary.