Chris Woodhead has been Chief Inspector of Schools in England at Ofsted since 1994. His scope includes schools, teacher training institutions, nurseries and playgroups.
An educationalist for about 30 years, Mr Woodhead graduated from Bristol University. He has taught at both Nottingham University and Oxford. He has, however, challenged the wisdom of government plans to expand numbers in further education, arguing that some school leavers may benefit more from learning a trade.
At Ofsted, Mr Woodhead has found himself at the centre of debate about school standards. He has said that 4% of England's schoolteachers are incompetent and is critical of what he sees as a "culture of excuses" in the minority of failing schools. Recently one headteacher accused Ofsted of acting like "the Spanish Inquisition".
Frequently interviewed, he was embarrassed last year when he appeared to fumble with a fraction calculation on a radio phone-in.
Following his remarks that affairs between teachers and pupils could be "educative", allegations were made that he had shared a relationship with a pupil while he was teaching her - a claim he denied.
