Academy trust boss Sir Martyn Oliver is set to be named the next chief inspector of Ofsted, it is understood. Oliver, who leads Outwood Grange Academies Trust, has been named the preferred candidate by education secretary Gillian Keegan, but his appointment is still to be ratified by Number 10, the Sunday Times reported. Oliver had been the frontrunner for the role alongside fellow trust boss Sir Ian Bauckham. Oliver leads one of the country鈥檚 most successful trusts in turning around failing schools in deprived areas, many of which are now 鈥榞ood鈥� or 鈥榦utstanding鈥� 鈥� some for the first time in their history. The trust has also led on helping schools become more efficient and is one of four that founded the flagship National Institute of Teaching. Exclusion rate and isolation use criticised However, the appointment is also likely to prove controversial. OGAT鈥檚 zero-tolerance approach to education has been criticised: from its schools high exclusion rates to facing a legal challenge over its use of isolation booths. A pupil claimed they had spent almost a third of their time at school in isolation. Schools Week also first revealed the trust had run 鈥渇lattening the grass鈥� assemblies where ex teachers said pupils were shouted at and humiliated. Oliver himself also sat on the government commission on race, led by Sir Tony Sewell, which . OGAT boss criticised curriculum-focus inspections Oliver, who was knighted for services to education last year, was also highly critical of current chief inspector Amanda Spielman鈥檚 new inspections. He was one of a handful of leading CEOs who said the switch in focus from exam results to curriculum would favour middle-class children. Schools Week revealed in 2019 many schools under the new inspections had been criticised for starting GCSEs in year 9. Oliver said at the time that inspectors were taking a 鈥渇ar too simplistic a view on when GCSE teaching should begin. Many of the children in our schools need a three-year run up. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have books at home and space for homework. All that has to happen in school time and disproportionately their life chances come from qualifications.鈥� ‘Schools transformed by OGAT’ Once the government has named its preferred candidate, they will appear before the education committee which makes its own reccommendation on the appointment. A spokesperson for OGAT said: 鈥淚n our trust are schools in areas of high deprivation which had been under-performing for years and were some of the most challenging in the system when we took them on. 鈥淭hese schools have been transformed by OGAT. They now provide students with a great education and the best chance to lead successful lives. Our schools have never been so popular with parents and local authorities have expanded several of them so they can take even more students.鈥� A spokesman for the DfE told the Sunday Times: 鈥淣o final decisions have yet been made on the new chief inspector of Ofsted.鈥� Ofsted has been widely criticised following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. Labour has pledged to ditch one-word grades for a report card, should it form the next government.