Wilshaw sparks row over inspection of Sunday schools

Church Sunday schools could face inspection by Ofsted under proposed rules designed to eradicate the kind of extremist religious teaching exposed by the 2014 Birmingham Trojan Horse affair, according to the head of Ofsted, writes Paul Wilkinson.

Some Christian groups, including the Evangelical Alliance and Christian Concern, were alarmed by remarks made in a radio interview on Friday last week by Ofsted’s chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, that the Government “wants Sunday schools, and wants madrasas and after-school clubs, to be registered. We will not be inspecting every one of them – but we will know that they exist” and if a whistle-blower raises concerns “we will go in and inspect”.

The Government wants out-of-school settings that provide intensive education for over six to eight hours in a week to be registered and undergo regular inspection, but the Department for Education and Ofsted moved quickly this week to allay fears that Sunday schools would be subject to regular or universal scrutiny. The proposals were debated on Wednesday and the Government is expected to draw up legislation later this year.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, was forced to intervene and in a letter to Tory MP Sir Gerald Howarth said that the proposals would not apply to institutions teaching children for a short period – like Sunday schools or Holy Communion classes – nor to one-off residential activities.

The Catholic Education Service said: “Church organisations already have well-established safeguarding requirements in place and are unlikely to be providing education for over six to eight hours a week on a regular basis.”