Headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh has quit as Social Mobility Commission chair, saying her controversial opinions “puts the commission in jeopardy” and it is doing “more harm than good”.
The commission’s deputy and Oldham College principal Alun Francis has been appointed interim chair.
Birbalsingh – Britain’s so-called “strictest headteacher” at Michaela Community School in London – was appointed to lead the commission in November 2021.
The outspoken leader has always courted controversy. While social mobility tsar, she was widely criticised after telling a parliamentary committee hearing that low uptake of physics among girls was because they would rather not do “hard maths”.
