The Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt has appeared to questioned whether nuns make good teachers.
The Labour frontbencher’s comments came after Catholic journalist Christina Odone praised her religious education on the BBC television programme Question Time, describing nuns as “the most inspiring teachers I’ve ever encountered” who taught "real values, not British values".
Mr Hunt, also on the panel, interrupted: “These were nuns, these were all nuns, weren’t they?”
He then appeared to suggest that nuns who taught in schools were not qualified to do so.
He went on: “I know about your religious schooling and there’s a difference I think between a state education system having qualified teachers in the classroom.”
Ms Odone, who attended a Catholic school, a state school and a private school, retorted: "I wonder what your Ofsted inspectors would say about my teachers. They were absolutely dedicated to us, they didn’t care about political correctness, they didn’t ask questions of us when we were five years old about sexual education, sexual values."
Mr Hunt this morning defended his comments, saying on Twitter that he had meant no offence to nuns.
On BBC QT I was trying to make a generalised point about the use of unqualified teachers in schools. I obviously meant no offence to nuns.
— Tristram Hunt (@TristramHuntMP) February 6, 2015
Meanwhile the chief regulator for education in England and Wales has said some faith schools had not done enough to promote social cohesion and provide multicultural teaching.
The head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw told the Education Select Committee of the House of Commons this week that he believed making sure that all schools were working towards making British society more cohesive was one of the most important tasks at the current time for his office.
The issue has come into sharp focus following the Trojan Horse affair, which saw infiltration of schools in Birmingham by Islamic fundamentalists. Sir Michael, a former teacher in Catholic schools and a Catholic himself, assured MPs on the committee that his inspectors are quite clear about the need for faith schools to teach what have been termed “British values”.
“That applies particularly to schools in mono-cultural areas,” he said. “They are on the front line. All schools, whether secular schools or faith schools, have a big responsibility to ensure that they teach British values, advise youngsters on what is happening in our society, and give them access to knowledge about different faiths, communities and cultures.”
But in the Independent on Thursday Sir Michael defended Ofsted's position on faith schools, saying that it was not on an "aggressively secular mission to tear up the very fabric of England's proud faith traiditon".
"It’s a portrayal so far removed from the reality of how we conduct our inspections that it must have governors, leaders, teachers and children across the country scratching their heads in bafflement," he said. "As a former headteacher of a Catholic secondary school, the charge that I am presiding over some sort of state-sponsored, anti-faith school “witch-hunt” would be laughable – were it not so serious. I have long been a staunch supporter and proponent of faith schools in this country, believing that they are a valuable and enduring feature of our education landscape.
Let me offer this unequivocal reassurance – the vast majority of faith schools have nothing to fear either from Ofsted or from the recent guidance issued by the Department for Education on promoting British values as part of the curriculum."
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