Following reports from the end of 2013 of an alleged plot to remove headteachers in the Birmingham area and have them replaced by conservative Islamists – the so called ‘Trojan horse’ plot – Sir Michael Wilshaw, Chief Inspector of Schools, released reports on the schools in question on June 9, showing that some schools had failed to protect their pupils from exposure to extremist teaching.
The report said that ‘a culture of fear and intimidation has taken grip’ with headteach-ers ‘marginalised or forced out of their jobs’ in the implicated schools.
A number of schools found their OFSTED report judgment grade fall from the highest category, outstanding, to needing either special measures, where the management and often school governors are replaced, or into requiring improvement, an equally devastating result for a school.
Argument in government
Questions were raised as to how long the government had been aware of this situation. It appeared that it may have been informed of Islamic practices within these state funded non-religious schools as far back as 2008. Many of the schools are Academies, under the direct responsibility of the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, and thus outside the control of the local authority. Despite this, the impact of this investigation has resulted in the restructuring of responsibilities within the education service in Birmingham. An argument also broke out between government departments as to whether it was the responsibility of the Home Office or the Education Department to be monitoring the possible radicalisation of children in settings such as these.
Much has been made of the marginalisa-tion of the communities involved during an investigation that has been perceived as heavy handed; many note how the schools are improving the life chances of the pupils via improving exam results. Opponents to the idea of faith playing any part in the state education system have pointed towards the limited sex education taught and the alleged separation of pupils along gender lines. Some pupils commented that relationships, or even conversations, between opposite gender pupils were discouraged.
The government now plans to encourage schools to ‘actively promote British values’. OFSTED inspections are likely to become ‘no warning’ events where inspectors just turn up in a school, thus ensuring that a school has no time to ‘cover up’ unacceptable practices. The impact upon faith schools has yet to be seen, where freedom in the curriculum regarding issues such as sex and religious education are still under the school’s independent control.
