Ofsted's Chief Inspector shocks listeners by admitting she's never been a teacher

6 January 2020, 10:17 | Updated: 6 January 2020, 10:18

The chief inspector of Ofsted admitted she had never been a teacher after a caller told her how difficult the job is nowadays.

Amanda Spielman was live in the LBC studio with Nick Ferrari when Barbara called from Southampton called to talk about the amount of burn-out that teachers are currently facing.

But as she said: "I don't know the last time you were in a school as a teacher, I challenge you to go and work as a teacher for a term and then re-look at the schedule."

But Ms Spielman told her: "I've never been a teacher.

"I was a founder of one of the big academy chains, but I've worked in education for 20 years."

Listeners were surprised by her admission, tweeting.

Referring to the burn-out, Ms Spielman said: "We have had a focus on teacher workload and making sure that school management teams are really using their staff well and that people are letting go of the stuff that doesn't help children.

"That way, they can really concentrate on the stuff that does have value."

Watch the moment at the top of the page.