It appears that either Ofsted, in its interpretation of the Revised Independent School Standards 2014, or Nikki Morgan, the Education Secretary, is confused over the wording of the guidance to schools.
This concerns the promotion of the protected characteristics as detailed in the Equality Act. This came to light after a letter to a member of the public, sent in early November, made clear use of the term ‘respect’ rather than ‘promotion’ of lifestyles in the classroom.
Secretary’s reply
A south London woman had her letter to her local MP passed on to Nikki Morgan as it explained her concerns about the independent school regulations. In her reply, Ms Morgan stated: ‘The new standards will, rightly, require that schools encourage their pupils to respect other people, including those who follow other lifestyles or have particular protected characteristics under the Equality Act. We are also strengthening the existing requirements by ensuring that schools promote respect and tolerance towards those of other beliefs and faiths’.
Definition confusion
Promotion of respect, or encouraging respect is completely different to ‘promotion of’ the protected characteristics of the Equality Act. An independent Christian school in Reading school (see December en, front page) was told that it needed to promote other religions, as the new regulations state*, not just respect those one may not agree with.
So either Nikki Morgan, or Ofsted (or both?), is confused over the wording contained in the new regulations, or she does indeed agree with her critics (and what appears to be an accurate reading of the revised standards) that teaching respect is desirable, but promotion of issues which go against one’s conscience is a different matter altogether. It is possible that neither Ms Morgan nor the inspectors of the Reading school have thought through the difference between the two.
More letters
In another letter sent to Nikki Morgan, the Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has indicated that he plans to meet with ‘education leaders from the different faith communities over the next few weeks in order to discuss Ofsted’s inspection frameworks and guidance’.
Further to this, MPs wrote to Nikki Morgan, encouraging her to scrap the new independent school regulations which have resulted in a number of faith schools, including a Christian school, being downgraded or given warnings about their future.
The rules have already led to the Christian school in Reading being reprimanded by the education watchdog Ofsted for not promoting other faiths. In the letter to Nicky Morgan, the MPs say it is up to the Department for Education to rethink its imposition of the ‘far-reaching new requirements’. Twelve MPs, including Sir Edward Leigh and Stewart Jackson, commented: ‘This shift in policy is distracting Ofsted from its function of ensuring high quality education. Instead, it requires them to police the application of the current, highly politicised, interpretation of equality’.
State enforced ‘orthodoxy’
The changes also go against Conservative policy designed to remove schools from ‘State-enforced orthodoxy’, the MPs say. They also ‘conflict with carefully crafted provisions in education law that protect the ability of faith schools to operate according to their religious ethos’.
They warn that the changes ‘alter the definition of British values’ and inevitably forces Ofsted inspectors to produce controversial rulings. ‘We urge you to suspend implementation of the changes in order to conduct an urgent review. That review should carefully examine the damage caused by the implementation of the new approach. Judging from cases that have already been reported in the newspapers, the entirely predictable consequences of making these changes are already taking place’, they say.
They add that Nicky Morgan should take advantage of the fact that the regulations ‘are still within the 40-day period in which they can be annulled’ and asked for a meeting with Nikki Morgan to discuss an alternative approach to the issues.
Further to this the Revd Nigel Genders, Chief Education Officer of the Church of England, has warned that British values cannot be allowed to become a test or an assessment of whether somebody in a community is ‘safe’ or ‘loyal’.
