Margaret Elizabeth Atkinson (born 16 September 1956)Dr Maggie Atkinson
/ref> is an English educator and the former

Children's Commissioner for England The Office of the Children's Commissioner for England is a non-departmental public body in England responsible for promoting and protecting the rights of children as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well ...

. After a career in teaching, she moved into public service administration, initially in education, but later in Children Services. Her appointment and tenure as Children's Commissioner was notable for a series of controversies.

Early life and education

Atkinson was born in Barnsley,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

(now

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

).Children's commissioner nominated
/ref> Educated at Pope Pius X RC High School,

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

, and Mexborough Sixth Form College, she graduated from

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

in 1978. She received her teaching qualifications at

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

in English, history and drama.

Education

She spent 10 years teaching in two different schools, becoming Head of English at Birkdale High School in Dewsbury. She became a

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or other ...

regional co-ordinator in Yorkshire, before taking a variety of curriculum and children's services roles in

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

across England. She was awarded a Doctors in Education at

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

in 2008 and an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Letters at Northumbria University in 2010. Dr. Maggie Atkinson: Themes and Biography
/ref>

Children's Services

Gateshead Council The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Felling, Pelaw, Dunston and Low Fell. The bor ...

appointed her as Director of Children's Services in 2003, and she served as President of the Association of Directors of Children's Services in 2008.Maggie Atkinson, ADCS boss
/ref>

Children's Commissioner

Atkinson was appointed Children's Commissioner in March 2010,
/ref> Following a lengthy selection process,

Ed Balls Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Ex ...

, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, announced that Atkinson was the preferred candidate to be put through the vetting process in front of the newly created

Education Select Committee The Education Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and any asso ...

.Balls overrules committee of MPs to appoint new children's chief
/ref> But the committee rejected the appointment forcing Balls to override their wishes by appointing her over their objections.Ed Balls defied Parliament to appoint Maggie Atkinson – now they must both resign
/ref> Her tenure was marked by occasional high-profile reporting in much of the press. In 2010, Atkinson wrote to Denise Fergus, mother of Jamie Bulger to apologise for the hurt caused by Atkinson's remarks on the age of criminal responsibility. Atkinson had said in an interview that she believed the current age of criminal responsibility in England was too young at 10 years of age, and that it should be raised. During the interview she referred to the events surrounding the death of Jamie Bulger as "exceptionally unpleasant". Fergus called for Atkinson to be sacked. A report by the Office of the Children's Commissioner in England in 2013 warned that many schools are conducting unlawful schemes of exclusion for some poorly behaved pupils and suggested that schools should lose funding if they were found to have such policies. Controversially, the report concluded that schools should reduce all forms of exclusion and should cease excluding students altogether for minor offences like breaking the school's uniform policy. In December 2013, in an interview with ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' newspaper, Atkinson made clear her personal view that parental smacking of their children should be made illegal. The response by the government was that they had no wish to criminalise parents for issuing a mild smack, while the

NSPCC The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity. History Victorian era On a trip to New York in 1881, Liverpudlian businessman Thomas Agnew was inspired by a visit to the New Yor ...

welcomed the commissioner's comments.

Media

In December 2013, Atkinson was a member of a team of Keele graduates appearing on a Christmas Special edition of ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

'', answering questions on Andy Murray's first Wimbledon win and Hull as UK City of Culture.Keele University to appear on University Challenge
/ref>University Challenge
/ref> Keele beat the

University of Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

by 140 points to 90 in the program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Maggie Living people Schoolteachers from Yorkshire Alumni of Keele University Alumni of the University of Sheffield Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Children's Commissioners for England English civil servants People from Barnsley 1956 births