Former chief inspector of schools Sir Chris Woodhead dies, aged 68

Sir Chris, who began his teaching career in Shrewsbury, died at about 9am this morning.

The 68-year-old became chief education advisor with the former Shropshire County Council but had been confined to a wheelchair because of his illness.

He was also receiving chemotherapy for cancer, which had spread to his liver.

Sir Chris was the top schools watchdog for six years until 2000 and had some fierce clashes with teaching unions.

He resigned as chief schools inspector after a series of rows with then-education secretary David Blunkett.

Last year, Sir Chris spoke out in favour of assisted dying, saying: "I feel very strongly about those people not suffering as severely disabled people suffer who pontificate about wrongness of assisted dying. It does irritate me a hell of a lot."

At the time he said he wanted to die in Britain, not in Switzerland where those looking to end their lives are currently able to go.

"I don't want to go all the way to Dignitas and sing Beatles songs with bearded social workers for my last five minutes. I want to listen to Beethoven's late quartets with a bottle of good Bordeaux and my nearest and dearest," he said.

Peter Cates, a retired chief education officer, who appointed Sir Chris as his deputy in 1989, said he would be missed by all his family and friends.

He said: "He was a controversial figure in the public eye because he always called a spade a spade.

"In private he was a person with a great sense of adventure and a greater sense of fun.

"Chris was much loved by his family and friends."

Sir Chris once said 4.2% of the teaching profession was not up to the job, earning him angry attacks from teaching unions.

Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute, tweeting: "Chris Woodhead started a crucial debate onschool standards and reform. Meetings with him were never dull. My thoughts are with his family."

Sir Chris was in the news last November when he warned that schools must become more alert to possible sex abuse of pupils by teachers, after an elite independent school he was linked to hired a convicted paedophile who abused dozens of boys.

An independent report criticised a blase attitude by staff at the Southbank International School in London which allowed convicted American child molester William Vahey to commit sickening crimes while teaching there for four years.

Sir Chris, chairman of the school board, urged other schools to learn from its mistakes and follow its lead in toughening child safety procedures, saying staff have to be ''constantly vigilant''.

The report by Hugh Davies QC also suggested that Vahey, who was convicted of child molestation in California in 1969, subsequently enjoyed a career spanning 40 years and schools on several continents because no-one checked his US criminal record.

The pervert committed suicide in March last year aged 64, shortly after the FBI started investigating pornographic images on a thumbnail drive of at least 90 boys aged from 12 to 14, who appeared to be drugged and unconscious.

Sir Chris said in November: ''You just cannot trust the initial (background) checks. You have got, as a school, to be eternally vigilant without being paranoid and destroying the culture of trust in the school.

''It is a fine line but any school, particularly an international school, that thinks that it can rely on the initial checks, is kidding itself.''

He added: ''There is a silver lining. It is a dreadful, appalling thing that has happened to Southbank. But the publicity that has been generated - if it does raise awareness in other schools, amongst other teachers, that is of course a good thing.

''Perhaps our teachers could have registered more quickly that this man was not behaving in a way that was, for want of a better word, normal.

''The signs of a potential paedophile, everyone in the teaching profession needs to know about.''

Vahey, who taught at Southbank between 2009 and 2013, was found dead in Luverne, Minnesota, on March 21 last year. The following month his flat in north London was raided by police.

In May last year the FBI revealed that it had been contacted by ''several hundred'' people either alleging they were abused by Vahey or providing information for the police investigation.

The teacher, who was hired by former principal Terry Hedger, ran Southbank's Travel Club and images of between 50 and 60 students at the school, apparently taken on school trips, were found by police on his computer drive.

Mr Davies' report found ''serious failures in individual decision-making'', with inappropriate conduct either under-reported or inadequately recorded and managed.

He described a ''false but dominant assumption by senior decision-makers that teachers, once vetted, could not represent a risk to students ... and that such criminality would not occur at Southbank''.

He also said senior staff did not understand the patterns of institutional sexual offending against children, with an ''incoherent'' system for reporting abuse.

After Sir Chris's resignation in 2000, he went on to advise former Tory leader Michael Howard, and worked as a columnist and author.

He was a Professor of Education at the private Buckingham University, and chairman of Cognita - a company running a group of private schools.

The former teacher, who was knighted in June 2011, did not stay out of the limelight, often making his views on the current state of UK education known.

In 2009, he denounced Ofsted as an "irrelevance" and "a waste of public money", saying the watchdog had contributed very little to schools' understanding of their task and had become "part of the problem" in the education system.

And in 2013 he repeated his claim that there could be thousands of incompetent teachers at large in the UK.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of the campaign group Dignity in Dying, said: "We are incredibly saddened to hear of the death of our Patron Sir Chris Woodhead, who became a powerful voice for an assisted dying law in his last years. Sir Chris was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and later liver cancer and he faced both illnesses with his trademark no-nonsense courage.

"Only last month he wrote that 'It seems to me obvious that, if the law were to be changed along the lines Lord Falconer is proposing, sufficient safeguards could be built in to protect the vulnerable. Equally, I cannot see how anybody can really believe that the state should decide the timing of my death. But we live and we die in a society... where the needs and the rights of those who could benefit from a change in the law are brushed to one side'.

"In our last conversation two weeks ago Sir Chris was looking forward to the upcoming debate in the Commons and was ready to fight for a change in the law if in his own words he 'survived' a further operation, showing his willingness to confront the stark reality of his situation. Unfortunately this was not to be the case and our condolences go out to his wife Christine, family and friends."

Schools group Cognita said: " Sir Chris Woodhead was an incredibly bright, passionate and engaging man - an academic of immense stature. He was the founder of Cognita in 2004 and for 10 years guided and supported the group's development as chairman.

"Prior to Cognita, Sir Chris was instrumental in shaping education reform in the UK, leading Ofsted from 1994 to 2000 and developing a lasting inspection framework focused on high standards and school improvement.

"He was at all times determined and passionate in his work, all the more inspiring given the challenges he faced following his diagnosis with motor neurone disease. We are honoured to have been his colleague and our thoughts are now with his devoted wife Christine and his family."

Ukip education spokesman Paul Nuttall MEP said: "Sir Chris was a man who had dedicated his entire life to the youth of the country. As an inspirational educator and later as the head of Ofsted he showed vision, determination and intellectual courage to challenge the norms which so damage educational hope and aspiration.

"He has applied those self-same qualities to his long battle with his health. It was an honour to know him."