England's former chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, has questioned the new, friendlier style of his successor.

Mr Woodhead said he did not understand the idea that inspections should be something done with schools rather than to them - as advocated by the current head of Ofsted, Mike Tomlinson.

The new tone has gone down well with teachers, many of whom disliked what they saw as the antagonistic approach of Chris Woodhead, who now writes for the Daily Telegraph.

But in a speech at the University of Warwick, Mr Woodhead said an inspection "has to be rigorous, has to be judgemental".

He repeated his view that successful schools should be subject to "lighter touch" inspections - something which he introduced during his time at Ofsted.

10-yearly inspections 'silly'

But he said the idea that the present six-year cycle of inspections should be replaced with a 10-year one was "frankly silly".

"If we are going to have a 10-year cycle we might as well not have inspections altogether," he said.

Mike Tomlinson has promised a thorough review of the inspection process, after the general election.

He is expected to give more details of what that might entail on Thursday.

One of the ideas he has floated is inspections every 10 years - although a spokeswoman for Ofsted said this had been no more than a "throwaway line" to illustrate that Ofsted was prepared to examine all aspects of its operations.

The Education Secretary, David Blunkett, has made it clear that he thinks six-yearly inspections are the right approach.