What Matters Most: A Collection of Pieces

Discovering the passions of Chris Woodhead.

Collected writings from a man who stimulated controversy and roused passions.

Best known as the Chief Inspector of Schools who demanded higher standards across the board, Woodhead was admired and condemned in equal measure for his determination to confront taboos and bring them into the national education debate.

His final and greatest challenge was with Motor Neurone Disease , a condition he faced with strength and empathy until his death in 2015. While his education journalism stands at the core of this book, What Matters Most explores Woodhead's lesser known passions, literature and climbing, which he writes about with the precision and clarity that became his journalistic hallmark.

In the final pages of the book Woodhead shares his personal views on assisted dying , advocating for individuals to be permitted to die with dignity at a time of their choosing.

What Matters A Collection of Pieces is a fascinating and poignant book which tracks the life and beliefs of a truly inspirational contemporary thinker .

One of the foremost educationalists in recent years Sir Chris Woodhead was Chief Inspector of OFSTED from 1994 to 2000, and was one of the most controversial figures in debates on the direction of English education policy. He later became a columnist with the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times. He was patron of the Dignity in Dying campaign. Foreword by John Clare. Edited and introduced by Christine Woodhead.