Proposals to give pupils a greater say in school inspections have been attacked by teaching unions concerned that teachers will be left at the mercy of a "malicious minority".

Ofsted boss Mike Tomlinson has launched a consultation exercise on proposals allowing schools to select one issue for inspection, increasing flexibility in inspections, better communications with parents, recruiting more serving heads and teachers to the inspection teams, improving feedback to individual teachers and working with Department for Education and Skills to reduce the bureaucracy associated with inspections.