In recent months we have been treated with a drip feed of stories about how troublesome Muslims are to wider British society. First it was the Niqab, then so-called sharia courts, followed quickly by halal food.
Now we are told that Muslims are hell-bent on imposing extremist values in British schools. On 9 June, Ofsted finally published reports following its inspection of 21 Birmingham schools allegedly forming part of a 'Trojan Horse' plot.
Ofsted was ordered into these schools amid concerns that there was a politicisation of inspections (some in the Muslim community even viewed it as a witch hunt).
And yet the subsequent Ofsted reports found nothing to add credence to the claim that there had been an organised attempt to promote, tolerate or facilitate in any way an ideology of extremism. What they did find, and I agree with, was certain examples of poor governance and administration which needed changing. Very quickly, however, the narrative has become one of “takeover”, of almost McCarthyite levels of fear about cadres of Muslim fanatics.
Now these schools and their pupils and parents suffer uncertainty, whilst the local communities, some of the most deprived in the area, are told that their participation is not welcomed unless they pass a “Britishness” test (undefined except by a scrambling political class in search of a tick list).
For my part, I am all for a wholehearted debate on British values. However, I have trouble with the conflation of legitimate aspirations of Muslims, and indeed any other faith or none, with extremism and security issues. This issue has been debated endlessly, but the most prescient judgement comes from someone who knows a little more than others about schools, Birmingham schools in particular.
Writing in The Guardian, Professor Tim Brighouse, a former Chief Education Officer in Oxfordshire and Birmingham, observed: “Recently I watched a presentation at a Catholic secondary school staff training day of its faith mission. As I mentally substituted ‘Muslim’ for ‘Catholic’ and ‘Allah’ for ‘God’ with each slide that appeared on the screen, I had little doubt about what a furore such an amended set of slides would cause in our Islamophobic society.”
He rightly asks: “Would inspectors ask whether the children in Catholic schools are being prepared suitably for life in modern Britain?”
Whilst Muslims may temporarily be scapegoated and used as a political football, ultimately Ofsted, and indeed the government of the day, cannot selectively discriminate against Muslims. There will be two options to choose from – fairer, more equal provisions for faith school, or a bitter debate that may lead ultimately to no faith schools funded by the state.
(Dr) Muhammad Abdul Bari is an author and commentator on social and political issues. He was Secretary General of Muslim Council of Britain 2006-10.
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This subject was covered in Sunday's New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/world/europe/reading-writing-and-allegations-muslim-school-at-center-of-debate.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
Reading, Writing and Allegations: Muslim School at Center of Debate
Two observations, the first “political,” the second “religious.”
Is it really possible that 30 years after OFSTED’s foundation the majority of Tablet contributors are unaware of quite how flawed an organisation it is currently? And has been since its very conception by Chris Woodhead?
A cursory glance at its performance in monitoring the schools at the heart of this article highlights its lack both of rigour and of credibility.
Even more importantly, whilst I understand that the purpose of Catholic schooling is a subject of prerennial debate, which document pace Prof Brighouse says that its primary purpose is to "promote British values"?
What, for instance, would Education Secretary Michael Gove's friends in News International say were Catholic children, and others in Catholic schools such as 2 of the current Welsh-born Jihadists with ISIS being highlighted in news media who attended Catholic school,, to be taught in accordance with Pope Francis's assertions that “some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralised workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. “
Are these Catholic values British too ?
It is a sad state of affairs that Catholic education should be dragged into this debate. Catholic schools have again and again proved that they provide a broad and balanced curriculum in conformity with "British values".
The author quotes Prof Brighouse as saying "Would inspectors ask whether the children in Catholic schools are being prepared suitably for life in modern Britain." What tosh! in the several Catholic schools in which I served the Ofsted inspectors always asked precisely that question. Amazing if Prof Brighouse is not aware that this question is always at the core of both Ofsted and diocesan inspections of Catholic schools.
As a former Brentwood diocesan secondary headteacher colleague of Sir Michael Wilshire I always found him clear on value issues. I doubt if he has changed.
"Ofsted reports found nothing to add credence to the claim that there had been an organised attempt to promote, tolerate or facilitate in any way an ideology of extremism"
Perhaps - but they found many problems of concern - such as high-performing head teachers being forced out of their jobs. You may consider this merely to be a matter of "poor governance and administration" but many of us would disagree.
Curiously the Tablet suggested earlier this week that all this furore was the fault of Mr Gove. I would rather place the blame squarely on OFSTED.
Where I disagree with Dr Abdul Bari is that everything faced by Muslims today was faced by Catholicism for well over a century, from "Rome on the Rates" to Fenian (Catholic) terrorists. Catholicism was regarded as invasive, foreign, disloyal and intrusive. Rather ironic that OFSTED's charge is being led by Wilshaw a former Catholic school head.