{"id":41403,"date":"2017-11-16T12:01:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T20:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=41403"},"modified":"2017-11-16T12:01:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T20:01:01","slug":"discuss-islam-education-following-trojan-horse-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/discuss-islam-education-following-trojan-horse-plot\/","title":{"rendered":"How to discuss Islam and education following the Trojan Horse \u2018plot\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nRecent research<\/a>\u00a0shows more than a quarter of secondary schools in England do not feature religious education on the syllabus. This is despite the subject being compulsory for all state-funded schools \u2013 which includes academies and free schools.<\/p>\n

According to findings by the\u00a0National Association of Teachers of Religious Education<\/a>, many schools could be \u201cbreaking the law\u201d, with pupils \u201cmissing out on religious education\u201d.<\/p>\n

Daily acts of Christian worship are required<\/a>\u00a0by law in all schools \u2013 except where there are special arrangements for other faiths. But with Christianity on the decline and the wider population of the UK becoming\u00a0increasingly secular in orientation<\/a>, there is a serious need for a debate about the role of religious education and collective worship in English schools. This is especially important when you take into account the fact that\u00a0Islam is the fastest growing religion in the UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But this debate cannot happen while there is still such hysteria surrounding the so-called \u201cTrojan Horse plot\u201d to\u00a0Islamicise schools<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which made the headlines in 2014. The\u00a0accusation was that a group of conservative Muslims<\/a>\u00a0were working to take over a number of schools in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

The stain of accusation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Back in 2014, at the height of the Trojan Horse accusations, a special Ofsted inspection of 21 schools in Birmingham took place. It saw one of the schools \u2013 Park View academy \u2013 downgraded from the highest to the lowest rating overnight. The school had been previously rated as outstanding but was placed in special measures.\u00a0Ofsted Inspectors alleged<\/a>the school had failed to teach students enough about religions other than Islam, segregated boys and girls in classes, and had failed to give adequate sex education lessons.<\/p>\n

Two inquiries, on behalf of the\u00a0City Council<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Secretary of State for Education<\/a>\u00a0were set up, which led to\u00a0Park View Education Trust<\/a>\u00a0being dissolved.
\n

\"\"

Park View was investigated over allegations of a hardline Islamist takeover plot at a number of Birmingham schools. PA<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Its senior leadership team and some other teachers were also subjected to professional misconduct inquiries by the National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). The government also went on to require schools to promote \u201cfundamental British values\u201d and outlined a new counter-extremism strategy,\u00a0stating<\/a>:<\/p>\n

As Trojan Horse demonstrated, children can be vulnerable to purposeful efforts by extremists to take control of their schools and create a space where extremist ideologies can be spread unchallenged.<\/em><\/p>\n

But then events took a different turn in May of this year when the\u00a0NCTL case against the senior teachers collapsed<\/a>. This was because it was found that documents relevant to the defence had been\u00a0deliberately withheld from disclosure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unresolved tensions<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Commentators close to the government were quick to respond. A special adviser at the Department for Education at the time of the Trojan Horse affair, Jaime Martin,\u00a0wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It is important to note as they were not tried for the charges, they were therefore not cleared of them.<\/em><\/p>\n

And further:<\/p>\n

People who downplay the seriousness of Trojan Horse, claiming those involved exhibited \u2018mainstream\u2019 Islamic views, are guilty not only of stunning naivety, but of a dangerous error.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Should there be more Muslim state schools? Shuttertstock<\/p><\/div>\n

A similar claim was made by the conservative think tank,\u00a0Policy Exchange<\/a>. The co-head of its security and extremism unit, Hannah Stuart, and its head of education, John David Blake\u00a0proposed<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Non-disclosure of anonymous witness statements from the inquiry was described as an \u2018abuse of process\u2019, and that is deeply unfortunate, but this falls short of an exoneration.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mass hysteria<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Recently, Nick Timothy former adviser to the prime minister,\u00a0wrote in the Telegraph<\/a>\u00a0to condemn a public meeting in Birmingham, which was called to discuss the Trojan Horse affair. Timothy said the Telegraph had managed to get the owners of the venue to cancel the event after suggestions that those involved were part of a new \u201cplot\u201d to deny the Trojan horse scandal. This is despite the fact that the case collapsed earlier this year.<\/p>\n

In fact, the event was an opportunity to discuss the lasting impact the Trojan Horse allegations have had on the community in Birmingham. And\u00a0speakers at the event<\/a>\u00a0included myself and one other academic, Shamin Miah, as well as the journalist Peter Oborne, and a barrister in the case, Andrew Faux. We were also to be joined by the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Kevin Courtney, local politician, Salma Yacoob and Tahir Alam, the former chair of governors at Park View Educational Trust \u2013 the academy governing body of the school at the centre of the allegations.<\/p>\n

Lasting impact<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Park View academy had been a failing school in 1996, but it had turned things around and was in the top 14% of all schools in the country for its GCSE results in 2012. This was despite 73% of its pupils being on free school meals \u2013 an indicator of social deprivation \u2013 and just 8% of pupils with English as a first language.<\/p>\n

The school had been designated as a \u201cNational Support School\u201d to share its expertise, a lot of which was put down to having religious values in the classroom that reflected the home lives of students \u2013 this is a part of Birmingham where\u00a0almost 80% of residents are Muslim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Park View\u2019s successor school, Rockwood Academy, now has below average academic success. So even though it is well known that academic achievement is one of the best means of securing social integration, suspicion of Islamic expression within schools has had the opposite effect.<\/p>\n

All of which has been done in the name of \u201cBritish values\u201d. But given that the\u00a0most recent census<\/a>\u00a0shows the UK has become more ethnically diverse than ever before \u2013 minority ethnic groups continue to rise, while the proportion of people who identify as white decreases \u2013 maybe it\u2019s time to consider what these \u201cBritish values\u201d really mean in terms of religious education.<\/p>\n

Author Bio: <\/strong>John Holmwood is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recent research\u00a0shows more than a quarter of secondary schools in England do not feature religious education on the syllabus. This is despite the subject being compulsory for all state-funded schools \u2013 which includes academies and free schools. According to findings by the\u00a0National Association of Teachers of Religious Education, many schools could be \u201cbreaking the law\u201d, […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":41404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[32531],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-41403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-religious-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to discuss Islam and education following the Trojan Horse \u2018plot\u2019 - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/discuss-islam-education-following-trojan-horse-plot\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to discuss Islam and education following the Trojan Horse \u2018plot\u2019 - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recent research\u00a0shows more than a quarter of secondary schools in England do not feature religious education on the syllabus. 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