His association is due to launch a potential alternative to Ofsted, dubbed "Instead", at its conference later on Friday.

BBC: Schools 'struggling to recruit head teachers'

In Bottineau, North Dakota, partners Ronald Bergman and Paul Sund scoured trade magazines, joined a trade association and wrote out a list of potential customers and key decision-makers who might handle their invention -- a power broom to deal with snow, leaves and dirt.

FORBES: Getting a better mousetrap to market

They enlisted one of their fellows to do a statistical analysis, and published a Sept. 2001 paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association calling for an investigation into potential heart risks caused by Vioxx and Celebrex, a competing drug from Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ).

FORBES: Behind Merck's Fall

In a joint response, the National Association of Head Teachers and the Secondary Heads Association said they supported ways of identifying potential for higher education in students whose backgrounds made them unlikely to do well at A-level.

BBC: Study backs talent-spotting tests