Dame Christine Gilbert McNulty ( McGinty) was the Head of

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

(HMCI) also known as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills between October 2006 and 30 June 2011.

Early life and education

Gilbert was born Christine McGinty into a Catholic working-class family and went to a convent school in London. She studied at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

where she obtained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree (BA) in English and History. She furthermore received a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum a ...

degree (MEd) and a

Postgraduate Certificate in Education The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE/PGCertEd) is a one- or two-year higher education course in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which provides training in order to allow graduates to become teachers within maintained schools. In ...

(PGCE).

Career

Gilbert trained as a history teacher. She said, "I couldn't get over the fact that there were children of 14 or 15 in front of me who couldn't read," so took an

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

reading diploma to learn what she should do. At the age of 32, she became head of

Whitmore High School Whitmore High School is a state secondary school in the London Borough of Harrow. The school's students are mostly drawn from the wider Harrow area. In March 2015, the school was judged "Outstanding" by Ofsted for the second time. History Wh ...

, and then promoted to Director of Education for the

London Borough of Harrow The London Borough of Harrow () is a London borough in northwest London, England; it forms part of Outer London. It borders four other London boroughs Barnet to the east of ancient Watling Street (now the A5 road), Brent to the southeast, Ea ...

. She became Director of Education for the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

in 1997 where she led the transformation in performance and quality of local schools. The percentage of students gaining

General Certificate of Secondary Education The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

or equivalent at good grades (A*-C) was raised to 56% from 26% in under a decade. Later she became Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets.

Ofsted

Gilbert became HM Chief Inspector on 1 October 2006, replacing Maurice Smith. One of her key briefs was to oversee the expansion of Ofsted's remit from April 2007 to include the inspection of children's social services, adult learning and aspects of court administration, as this relates to children. Miriam Rosen, Gilbert’s successor, wrote in The Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2010/11, "In concluding this commentary, I want to take the opportunity to say a brief and personal word about Christine Gilbert, who finished her term as HMCI during the year. Christine brought the new Ofsted together from its predecessor organisations in 2007. She brought extraordinary energy and personal drive to the service of children and learners. She passionately believed not only that everyone deserves the best from the services they use, but that every child can and should achieve and do well. That has been the vision which has animated Ofsted for many years, and it continues to do so today".

Post Ofsted

Since Gilbert left Ofsted, she is a

Visiting Professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the

UCL Institute of Education IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to m ...

. She undertook a number of reviews including chairing the Academies Commission which published Unleashing Greatness: Getting the best from an academised system (2013). On Monday 5 November 2012, Gilbert took up a post as Acting Chief Executive of the Council in the

London Borough of Brent The London Borough of Brent () is a London boroughs, London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow to the north-west, London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the north-east, London Borough of Camden ...

, initially for a six-month appointment, succeeding Gareth Daniel who left at short notice earlier in the year, but stayed for three years. Since 2016, she has been the Chair of Future First, a charity that champions the establishment of a thriving alumni in every school so that young people can benefit from motivational role models. Currently, she is also Chair of Camden Learning, a school-led locality partnership that drives excellence and equity.

Education beliefs

When she went into education she initially taught the 'whole books' method and believed in it, but seeing the effects of the

National Literacy Strategy The Primary National Strategy document was launched in the UK in May 2003 by Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education. The then-existing National Numeracy Strategy and National Literacy Strategy were taken under the umbrella of the Pr ...

, realised for those of school age the explicit teaching of

phonics Phonics is a method for teaching people how to Reading, read and write an alphabetic language (such as English alphabet, English, Arabic alphabet, Arabic or Russian alphabet, Russian). It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the so ...

was important. Gilbert is joint chair of the Area Education Partnerships Association (AEPA) and an advocate of local education partnerships.

Personal life

Divorced from her first husband, she met then councillor and later government minister

Tony McNulty Anthony James "Tony" McNulty (born 3 November 1958) is a British politician who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East from 1997 to 2010. During his ministerial career, which began in 2003, he was Minister for London and late ...

when she was Director of Education for the

. The couple married in September 2002 in Hammersmith and Fulham. She has no children from either marriage. In 2010, ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...

'' named her as one of Britain’s most influential

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Gilbert was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2006 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2006 in some Commonwealth realms were announced (on 31 December 2005) in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Grenada, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, and Saint Christopher and Nevis to cel ...

for services to local government and to education, and promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as par ...

for services to young people and charity.

References

External links

Official declaration of her appointment in 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Christine 1961 births Living people School inspectors Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Reading People from Edmonton, London English people of Irish descent English schoolteachers