Tributes have been paid to former Oxfordshire education chief Sir Tim Brighouse who died on Friday.

Sir Tim, who was chief education officer for the county between 1978 and 1989, was described by a former colleague as 'towering figure in British education'. 

Global education pioneer Professor Bob Moon, a former headteacher at what was The Peers School, the first comprehensive in Oxford, said: "His ideas have had a significant impact on governments and schools. There will be few school leaders in the country who have not heard Tim speak at some time in their career.

"Tim was a son of Oxford. After a grammar school education, he came to St Catherine’s College where he read History. He taught for a few years and then decided to go into educational administration in Monmouthshire, and then Buckinghamshire, where he played a major role in designing the school system for Milton Keynes.

"After a spell in London, and still in his 30s, he was appointed Chief Education Officer for Oxfordshire. In characteristic fashion he once told me how embarrassed he was to get the job so young.

"Through the 1980s he threw himself into improving and reforming Oxfordshire schools.

"He introduced a self-evaluation system of school accountability, he designed new ways of organising the school day, he developed mew modes of assessment that made the child’s experience of schooling less dominated by tests and examinations.

"All these initiatives attracted national and international attention. These ideas are alive today.

"Tim was a charismatic and engaging speaker. I was a headteacher in the county in that period and can bear witness to just how popular he became.

"Tim then went on to a series of important roles. He was a Professor of Education at the University of Keele, Director of Birmingham’s Education Service and, during the Tony Blair period of government, he led the highly successful “London Challenge’ to raise the standards of secondary education in the capital.

"Throughout this period, he lived in Oxford and followed local events closely, in part through his wife Liz who led the Labour group on the County Council.

"He and I were both season ticket holders at Oxford United, maintaining loyalties throughout all the ups and downs of the last few decades.

"Tim was a warm , modest and generous man. One political commentator called him ‘the Patron Saint of Teachers’".

"How we will miss him."

Leader of Oxford City Council Susan Brown sent her condolences to Cllr Brighouse and Sir Tim's family.

Writing on X/Twitter she said his "contributions to education in our country were immense but all those who knew him will miss him for his wit and kindness".