The chairman of Ofsted, David Hoare, has described the Isle of Wight as “a ghetto” where there is “a mass of crime, drug problems, huge unemployment” and “inbreeding”.
Jump to:
- Background
- Response from Ofsted
- Comment by Isle of Wight MP Andrew Turner
- Comment by Leader of the IW Council, Jonathan Bacon
- Comment by Green Party spokesperson for Education, Vix Lowthion
- Background on David Hoare
- Additional comment by Leader of the IW Council, Jonathan Bacon
- A petition calling for Mr Hoare’s resignation
Mr Hoare apologises
Mr Hoare has this afternoon apologised for his comments.
He said,
“I apologise for any upset or offence that I may have caused by the comments I made about the Isle of Wight at the recent Teach First conference.
“My intention was to highlight how concerned I am about the unacceptably poor performance of schools on the Isle of Wight over many years and how this is damaging the prospects of young people who live on the Island. Those who know me will realise that I am passionate about improving outcomes for children from our most disadvantaged communities and my comments were made in this context.
“It is important that we draw attention to low educational standards, especially among low-income white British communities in our coastal areas, so that collective action is taken to improve the situation.
“Indeed, I welcome the efforts that are being made, supported by Hampshire County Council, to improve school performance on the Island.”
Background
The claims were made at a conference for teachers in Leeds and have been reported in today’s Times Education Supplement (TES).
“I have a house overlooking the Isle of Wight and often over a dinner party, someone will ask ‘How is education?’” he said.
“I say, ‘Fantastic, I love doing what I am doing. We’re really going to make a difference.’ But I say, ‘We’re living seven miles away from the second worst local authority when it comes to secondary education and the third worst when it comes to primary education’.
“And I say ‘Where is it? Portsmouth? No. Chichester? No. Bognor? No. We’re seven miles away and you don’t know we have a ghetto seven miles away’. British, white, poor, living on the Isle of Wight.”
He added: “Most people go there for sailing for two weeks a year. There’s a sailing club that is one of the best in the world, where there’s champagne.
“But just within inches, there are people who live in a ghetto and we’ve allowed it to happen.”
He also said
“Seven state schools were all less than good. There is a mass of crime, drug problems, huge unemployment.”
There may be more to this, but this is what the TES chose to report. The focus of the TeachFirst (the organisers of the conference which saw attendance of over 4,300 people) is to end educational inequality.
Official response from Ofsted
OnTheWight wrote to Ofsted asking:
Can you let us know which of the following [David Hoare] comments about the Isle of Wight, reported in TES today, does Ofsted not stand behind?
1 – It’s a Ghetto
2 – There has been inbreeding
3 – There is a mass of crime
4 – Drug problems
5 – Huge unemployment
Their response has just come back:
“The Chairman was expressing his personal views. They do not reflect the views of Ofsted or the Chief Inspector.”
Call for Government action
Leader of the Isle of Wight council and Executive member for Children’s Services, Cllr Jonathan Bacon said,
“If these ill-judged statements were made, they are an insult to the proud and hardworking Isle of Wight community. The Isle of Wight is working hard to raise the aspirations and attainment of our young people, something which Ofsted itself has recognised, not least in assessing our school improvement services as being effective.
“I am sure that Sir David would want to take every opportunity to clarify his position in respect of his views on Island residents, and I would be delighted if he were able to do this on a visit to the Isle of Wight which I would be happy to host.
“The Island has some significant challenges with its levels of education attainment but through its strategic partnership with Hampshire County Council we have made good progress in improving all services for children on the Island. We recognise that we still have more to do and are not complacent in seeking further improvements.
“The continued long term reduction in government funding for local authority services, allied with the additional costs of delivering services on an Island, all add to the significant challenge the council faces in securing continuous improvement in its essential services and especially in the education service.”
Hoare “owes Islanders an apology” says MP
In response to the comments made by Mr Hoare, Isle of Wight Conservative MP, Andrew Turner said,
“If Mr Hoare’s comments are accurately reported then I am appalled. He would not have dreamt of making such comments about an area with a high ethnic population. The role of Ofsted is to help improve teaching, not insult people.
“He clearly owes Islanders an apology and I will be contacting him.”
Call for resignation
Green Party spokesperson for Education, Vix Lowthion, alerted OnTheWight to the story. She is herself a parent and secondary school teacher on the Isle of Wight and calls for Mr Hoare’s resignation.
“I am absolutely appalled that the Chairman of Ofsted thinks it helpful, truthful or professional to describe our families and young people in that way. I think it reflects more on himself than it does on our hardworking teachers and schools.
“It is well known that coastal towns need investment and support to improve education standards and participation. David Hoare’s description of such a coastal areas as ‘a ghetto… full of inbreeding’ leave him unfit to hold the office of Ofsted chairman and support coastal town parents and teachers in making even more progress to support our young people.
“The Isle of Wight like many tourism areas is an area of outstanding natural beauty, with exciting outdoor experiences for children and a strong sense of community. There are many more positive aspects of the island than Mr Hoare’s experience of Yacht Clubs and champagne.”
“He has insulted residents of coastal towns across the country and should resign immediately.”
“Ignorant, insulting and ill-founded words”
Stewart Blackmore, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the Island at the last general election said:
“Mr Hoare’s ignorant, insulting and ill-founded words should, at the very least warrant an immediate retraction and apology. Given his undeniably crass and condescending outburst he should immediately consider his position as should his paymasters.
“Nevertheless, there can be no disguising the poor stewardship of the Island school system and the educational standards therein. Despite millions being spent on importing ‘expertise’ from Hampshire, the IOW remains – nearly three years later – under the Independent administration, one of the worst performing areas for students gaining 5 GCSEs at grades A* – C including maths and English
“I repeat my words of over eighteen months ago; there can be few things more important than giving our young people the best start in life. Instead of setting up a Transport Taskforce under the chairmanship of a man whose views are tainted, this money would be far better and productively spent on addressing the Island’s education problems.
“This is more than a structural issue: there is something fundamentally and systemically wrong with education on the Island and we would all do well to investigate where that fault-line starts.
“Let’s not forget that education was in a sorry state long before the Independents took over from the Tories, but the Independents have presented little evidence to counter any charges that they have made other than negligible improvements to our children’s education – and that from a low starting point.
“So yes, Privately-educated Mr Hoare deserves what he gets for his sneering contribution and can have no complaints about whatever befalls him. But let’s start treating education on the Island in the serious manner it deserves. Mr Bacon can start immediately by scrapping the useless Transport Task Force and diverting the council’s focus and resource where it belongs – our children’s education. He should match his indignation with proper leadership and do this immediately.”
Makes us sound like The League Of Gentleman
OnTheWight reader, Richard Heaven, commented,
“There’s a way of talking about it which encourages a positive discussion and potential improvement and then there this, which makes us sound like The League Of Gentleman.”
Hoare’s background
Educated at Marlborough College, the one-time chief Executive of Radio Rentals, Mr Hoare was appointed as a Trustee of Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) at the start of 2014 and stood down just a few months later.
He was appointed as Chairman of Ofsted by Nicky Morgan.
On the announcement of his appointment he said,
“I look forward to working closely with Sir Michael Wilshaw to raise quality in children’s services and standards in our schools and colleges – especially for disadvantaged pupils.”
Additional comment from council leader
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Leader of the Isle of Wight Councillor said:
“Sir David Hoare’s comments about ‘inbreeding’ and ‘ghettos’ on the Isle of Wight are truly offensive to the people of the Isle of Wight and bear no relation to the facts. Sir David should apologise immediately for these comments or provide evidence to support these assertions.
“It is deeply disappointing that such a senior figure has made such offensive and un-evidenced comments and I will be asking the Secretary of State for Education to ask Sir David to account for his comments at the earliest opportunity. It would be refreshing if the Ofsted chairman was able to make a positive contribution to improving education on the Isle of Wight rather than making facile and offensive comments.
“Some of Sir David’s other comments about the challenges in raising attainment for “working class white boys” are well known and national issues. Similarly, the challenges for many seaside economies have been well documented in last year’s report from the Future Leaders Trust.
“The ability of coastal councils such as the Isle of Wight to respond to these challenges has been severely curtailed by significant reductions in government funding as part of its austerity agenda and which has taken no account of the need for services or the specific geography of an area. At the same time the government has increased the burdens it places on local government effectively making it do more for less. Over the past six years the Isle of Wight council has had to find budget savings of over £60million and will need to save a further £34million over the next four years to stay within the spending limits set for it by government.
“Despite these financial challenges, the Isle of Wight council has been working hard with its community and partners to raise standards and attainment across all of the Island’s schools.
“Sir David is clearly out of touch with his own service as he references the amount of inadequate schools on the Island – in fact, thanks in great part to our school improvement services we now have only one school on the Island that is rated as inadequate, in line with national averages. Our school improvement services are now rated as effective by Ofsted themselves.”
Petition calls for resignation
Isle of Wight resident, Rebecca Roncoroni, has created an online petition.
At time of publishing it had attracted 80 signatures.
OnTheWight will be contacting all the relevant bodies for their views on Mr Hoare’s comments.
Article edits
10.30am Added comment by Jonathan Bacon.
10.40am Added comment by Richard Heaven.
11:29am Added Ofsted response.
12.22pm Added Comment by MP.
12.50pm Added additional comment by Jonathan Bacon.
2.43pm Added link to petition
5.59pm Added apology from David Hoare
3.54pm (8th) Added comment from Stewart Blackmore
Image: © From ISS c/o Ignazio Magnani
