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| Ofsted head wrong for implying Gove blocked snap inspections, says DfE | Ofsted head wrong for implying Gove blocked snap inspections, says DfE |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools and head of Ofsted, has been slapped down for claiming that Michael Gove changed his mind about imposing snap inspections after allegations about Islamic extremism in Birmingham schools. | |
| Sources at the Department for Education said on Tuesday it was wrong of Wilshaw to imply that the education secretary had earlier blocked his efforts to introduce unannounced inspections; their comments were a sign of continuing tensions over the sensitive issue. | |
| It comes just days after Gove's and home secretary Theresa May's offices exchanged blows over whose department was to blame for failing to do enough to counter Islamic extremism before a report into practices in 21 schools in the city was published. | |
| After months of investigating allegations of a so-called Trojan horse plot involving infiltration by Islamic hardliners, Ofsted said on Monday that it found a culture of "fear and intimidation" in some Birmingham schools. It recommended more no-notice inspections and mandatory training of school governors. | |
| Gove responded by announcing that teachers would get less warning of inspections and that all 20,000 primary schools nationwide would have to "promote British values". The government has not yet announced the exact definition of such values, but David Cameron said he wanted respect for institutions and a belief in personal and social responsibility to be "inculcated into the curriculum". | |
| Speaking in Sweden at a meeting with EU leaders, the prime minister said the changes would win the overwhelming support of the population, including recent immigrants. | Speaking in Sweden at a meeting with EU leaders, the prime minister said the changes would win the overwhelming support of the population, including recent immigrants. |
| "I would say: freedom, tolerance, respect for the rule of law, belief in personal and social responsibility and respect for British institutions," he said. "Those are the sorts of things I would hope would be inculcated into the curriculum in any school in Britain, whether it was a private school, state school, faith-based school, free school, academy or anything else." | "I would say: freedom, tolerance, respect for the rule of law, belief in personal and social responsibility and respect for British institutions," he said. "Those are the sorts of things I would hope would be inculcated into the curriculum in any school in Britain, whether it was a private school, state school, faith-based school, free school, academy or anything else." |
| Cameron added: "I think what Michael Gove has said is important and I think he will have the overwhelming support of everybody in Britain, including people that have come to settle in Britain and make their home in Britain." | Cameron added: "I think what Michael Gove has said is important and I think he will have the overwhelming support of everybody in Britain, including people that have come to settle in Britain and make their home in Britain." |
| However, in a further area of tension, Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said he now wanted to make sure pupils in all schools – including the semi-independent academies and Gove's free schools – were taught a core curriculum to guarantee a certain standard of education. | However, in a further area of tension, Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said he now wanted to make sure pupils in all schools – including the semi-independent academies and Gove's free schools – were taught a core curriculum to guarantee a certain standard of education. |
| He told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "I think in many ways, we need to look at this more widely because I think many people will be surprised to know that some of these schools, while they were under a duty to deliver a balanced curriculum, as Michael Wilshaw pointed out in his report, they're not under any obligation to actually teach anything from the national curriculum whatsoever." | He told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "I think in many ways, we need to look at this more widely because I think many people will be surprised to know that some of these schools, while they were under a duty to deliver a balanced curriculum, as Michael Wilshaw pointed out in his report, they're not under any obligation to actually teach anything from the national curriculum whatsoever." |
| He said he would also like to put stop unqualified teachers working in schools, a move likely to be resisted by Gove, with whom he has clashed in the past. | |
| Labour said Gove's latest spat with Wilshaw, following last week's rows with May and differences with Clegg, showed the education secretary was "continuing to try to shift the blame from himself and distract [attention] from the fact that his department was warned about the failings in Birmingham four years ago". | |
| "Instead of clearing up his mess, he is playing politics with our children's education," said Kevin Brennan, the shadow schools minister. | "Instead of clearing up his mess, he is playing politics with our children's education," said Kevin Brennan, the shadow schools minister. |
| The controversy over inspections started after Wilshaw told BBC's Newsnight that he called for unannounced inspections two years ago when he first joined Ofsted. "I called for it and it's been rolled back, but we need to do it now for some schools," he said. | |
| Wilshaw also said he believed Gove had changed his mind on no-notice inspections. "He said we need to look at this and we need to listen to what headteachers are saying about needing to be in the school prior to inspection, so that they can have a preliminary dialogue with the inspectors about how the inspection should be conducted. So we've pulled back on that and now they just have a few hours. We had a robust discussion about it and I'm really pleased that minds have been changed." | |
| The education secretary announced the change in the inspection regime after Ofsted found an atmosphere of intimidation in 21 Birmingham secular schools, a narrow, faith-based ideology, manipulation of staff appointments and inappropriate use of school funds. | |
| Ofsted found 10 of the schools needed improvement relating to the "Trojan horse" allegations, five were placed in special measures and the rest were cleared. Several school governors face being barred from holding office. Gove told MPs: "The overwhelming majority of British Muslim parents want their children to grow up in schools that open doors rather than close minds. It is on their behalf that we have to act." | Ofsted found 10 of the schools needed improvement relating to the "Trojan horse" allegations, five were placed in special measures and the rest were cleared. Several school governors face being barred from holding office. Gove told MPs: "The overwhelming majority of British Muslim parents want their children to grow up in schools that open doors rather than close minds. It is on their behalf that we have to act." |
| Education department officials said non-maintained schools were already required to respect British values, but all schools would now be required to promote those values. Ofsted would inspect schools to ensure compliance. | |
| The reports also raise issues for Ofsted, Birmingham city council, the Education Funding Agency and Department for Education officials who failed to inform Gove of a 2010 presentation to his department given by a former headteacher, Tim Boyes, about radical infiltration of Birmingham's schools. | The reports also raise issues for Ofsted, Birmingham city council, the Education Funding Agency and Department for Education officials who failed to inform Gove of a 2010 presentation to his department given by a former headteacher, Tim Boyes, about radical infiltration of Birmingham's schools. |
| In Birmingham, Sir Albert Bore, the leader of the Labour-run council, said he was "very reassured" that Ofsted had not uncovered evidence of a coordinated plot or conspiracy to seize control of schools but said it was clear some governors and governing bodies had "failed in their duties" to pupils. | |
| Some of the schools have strongly rejected the criticism. Jahangir Akbar, the acting principal of Oldknow academy, one of the schools now rated inadequate, said: "I feel that it's a political witch-hunt. There is no extremism here; our children are safe. It is unfair that these allegations are being made against us. All my middle managers are female, the leadership team has female members. The majority of the staff are non-Muslim." |