Common sense needed in tackling "extremism" in schools
17 Mar 2015 02:01 PM
The active promotion of British values in all schools is welcome but the monitoring of how this is achieved in individual schools must be carried out with common sense and sensitivity, says the Education Committee in its extremism in schools report.
There are lessons for Ofsted and the Department for Education (DfE) to learn from the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham and how it was investigated.
Chair's comments
Launching the report, Extremism in schools: the Trojan Horse affair, Graham Stuart, Chair of the Education Committee, said:
"One incident apart, no evidence of extremism or radicalisation was found by any of the inquiries in any of the schools involved. Neither was there any evidence of a sustained plot, nor of significant problems in other parts of the country. The Trojan Horse affair is less about extremism than about governance and the ability of local and central agencies to respond to whistle-blowers and to correct abuses of power within schools.
We found a worrying and wasteful lack of co-ordination between the various inquiries carried out by the DfE, Birmingham City Council, the Education Funding Agency, Ofsted and others. In the case of the Birmingham schools, the number of overlapping inquiries contributed to the sense of crisis and confusion.
Questions have been raised about the appropriateness of Ofsted’s framework and the reliability and robustness of its judgements. Ofsted must act to restore confidence in the inspectorate.
The British values which are now to be promoted in all schools are universal and deserving of support. Monitoring how these are promoted in individual schools must be done with common sense and sensitivity."
In its report, the Education Committee investigates how the Department for Education, Ofsted and others responded to the allegations of extremism in Birmingham schools last year, and draws out wider lessons for the entire school system.
Recommendations
The Education Committee recommends the Government should:
- Ensure that there is more coordination between inquiries by different agencies in the future.
- Draw together the recommendations from all the investigations and set out its response.
- Keep under review its arrangements for sharing information effectively between the various bodies responsible for oversight of schools.
- Make an annual written ministerial statement on the priorities and achievements of the DfE’s Due Diligence and Counter Extremism Division.
- Continue to monitor the situation in the individual schools affected in Birmingham to ensure that the students receive the education they deserve.
Further information