Marks doctoral research concentrated on the use of sport stadiums in urban regeneration projects and he is currently working on a graphic/comic version of his thesis. [58], The EFA inspection found a classroom culture which was not welcoming to non-Muslim pupils. "[4] He conducted no interviews with governors or teachers who were accused of misconduct, with the exception of Tahir Alam. For example, the co-head of the security and extremism unit at Policy Exchange (the conservative think tank that had advised Michael Gove's schools programme), Hannah Stuart, and its head of education, John David Blake, proposed that, "non-disclosure of anonymous witness statements from the Clarke inquiry was described as an 'abuse of process', and that is deeply unfortunate, but this falls short of an exoneration. [31], Of the schools mentioned by the letter, the account of Adderley Primary School was the more detailed, alleging that an employment dispute at Adderley was part of the Islamic plot's attempt to unseat the head teacher and install a conspirator with the same radical Islamification goals as the letter writers. [4] Governors also restricted teaching topics which were part of the Department for Education's Prevent strategy, such as forced marriage and female genital mutilation. In August 2014, the Principal Hardeep Saini was replaced by an interim principal. The school was one of those identified in the Kershaw and Clarke Reports, but no information about it was provided. Richard Kerbaj and Sian Griffiths, writing in The Sunday Times, reported that over 100 teachers would be charged with professional misconduct. [58] An extended Islamic assembly for its Year 10 and 11 pupils was arranged with Sheikh Shady al-Suleiman, an extremist preacher who has called on God to "destroy the enemies of Islam", "give victory to all the Mujahideen all over the world" and to "prepare us for the jihad". As noted above, governors and teachers accused in the various investigations were given no opportunity to respond to the allegations and the claims made in the various reports were not subject to independent scrutiny until misconduct charges were brought by the NCTL against teachers associated with Park View Education Trust. [24] In the wake of the findings, Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, announced that all schools in the country will have to promote British values of tolerance and fairness and said that teachers will be banned from the profession if they allow extremists into schools. It's co-hosted by Brian Reed, a veteran producer of This American Life Some staff at the school expressed fear that neither eating nor drinking amid high temperatures during the 18 hours of daylight in the months of June and July would compromise pupils' health and their ability to learn. [66], On 9 June 2014, Lord Nash, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for schools, wrote to Tahir Alam concerning the OFSTED and EFA reports and outlined the actions required by the school.[67]. [41] Concerns have also been raised by the National Association of Head Teachers about schools in parts of East London and other "large cities around the country". [2], "Operation Trojan Horse" redirects here. This evidence would come to light when the NCTL misconduct case against senior teachers at PVET collapsed because the prosecution had failed to disclose material from the Clarke Report that it had had in its possession since the start of the proceedings. A member of staff at Park View also alleged that the school had handed out worksheets stating that wives can not refuse to have sex with their husbands, a claim that the school denied. [105], The Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Jim Fitzpatrick, warned of a 'Trojan Horse'-style Islamist plot to infiltrate councils in London. The headteacher and deputy headteacher were subsequently found guilty at an NCTL hearing of falsifying SATS tests. [88] This showed that most schools conflated the two and did not have teachers trained in the Prevent duty. He said some of the witnesses had been very nervous and anxious. [70], At the tribunal held in October and November 2015, Mr Saini was accused of advising a teacher who had been arrested for having extreme pornography to throw his mobile phone into the canal to make sure there was no problem. Council leader Sir Albert Bore stated that his council had spoken to authorities in Bradford and Manchester, and said that there are "certainly issues in Bradford which have similarities with the issues being spoken about in Birmingham". Serial Productions recently released its latest investigative podcast series, "The Trojan Horse Affair." In consequence, the Panel judged that the matter was "an abuse of the process which is of such seriousness that it offends the Panel's sense of justice and propriety. [4], These claims by witnesses were unsubstantiated. These questions have been left unanswered She has not been held to account. As set out in the Panel Report,[133] this included evidence an inspector from the EFA Report who had acted as adviser to the Clarke Report about the circumstances of the EFA inspections where the Panel proposed that "no doubt it would be argued that this further undermined her credibility and the reliability of her evidence" (see paragraphs 124/125 of the Panel's justification of discontinuing). He has performed over 60 operatic roles in the standard [2] They described the Trojan Horse affair as a "false narrative" spread by a hostile British press which led to "a serious miscarriage of justice" against the teachers, drawing comparisons to the Hillsborough affair. [58] Governors at the school banned any discussions regarding sexual orientation and intimacy. "[4] The few pupils that elected to study a Christianity unit as part of the Religious Studies GCSE course had to "teach themselves", because the teacher focused on Islamic studies which the majority were studying. Of 21 schools investigated by Ofsted, and 14 schools investigated by the Clarke Report, charges were brought against teachers at just 4 schools. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 10 (1), pp. Adderley primary school is at the centre of the podcast's investigations. It was entitled Towards Greater Understanding: Meeting the Needs of Muslim Pupils in State Schools. [47], Reverend John Ray, OBE, and ex-head teacher of a school in Pakistan, resigned as a governor of Golden Hillock School after 25 years. [53] Birmingham City Council was already under investigation by Sir Bob Kerslake over problems of governance associated with financial management, looked after children, waste services and issues of equal pay for work of equal value. [42] The general secretary of the headteachers' union, Russell Hobby, said the union has found "concerted efforts" by hardliners to infiltrate Birmingham schools, and that it was working with 30 of its members in 12 schools and had "serious concerns" about some of them. [17], Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw accused Birmingham City Council of a "serious failure" in supporting schools in protecting children from extremism. [110][111], The National Union of Teachers (NUT) demanded a full review of academies after the letter was revealed, expressing that political and religious groups had exploited the status at thousands of schools to indoctrinate children. Children were banned from playing musical instruments and drama lessons were dropped from the schedule. [107], In June 2014, there was a highly public argument between the Home Office and Department for Education ministers about the responsibility for the alleged extremism. The show also found evidence of unregistered Haredi Jewish schools in London, which an ex-pupil claimed were not teaching a balanced curriculum. [citation needed], Bhupinder Kondal, principal at Oldknow Academy, stated in July 2014 after the publishing of the reports that she recognised the steps illustrated in the letter and that governors had been trying to undermine her since 2009, although the Local Education Authority would not support her. Arrangements for the hearings were deeply unsatisfactory, with four separate cases brought against different groups of teachers associated with PVET and one other school, Oldknow Academy (which it transpired had a Memorandum of Understanding with PVET, signed at the behest of the Department for Education). With the apparent agreement of the Chair of the Panel, the decisions were amended prior to publication so as to state that the allegations were "in no way concerned with violent extremism". [131], A further comment by Mr Justice Phillips is noteworthy. Responsibility for determinations for academy schools passed to the Department for Education, but they put in place no measures for renewing determinations. [2], The report found evidence of intolerance at several schools toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people, and said that governors and staff exhibited openly homophobic behaviour. [58], The Education Funding Agency (EFA) found that the school lacked a balanced and broad curriculum and saw several subjects marginalised. However, what was at issue also included other documents outside the Clarke Report that had potentially been relevant to the case. [60], Golden Hillock School in Sparkhill, Birmingham, was put under special measures by Ofsted on 5 June 2014, after being rated "inadequate" in all categories. [55] In the event, just 12 teachers were subject to NCTL hearings, in which they were accused of "undue religious influence", not Islamist extremism. [54] Kerslake deferred issues of education to the Clarke and Kershaw Reports, but an appendix to his Report provided contextual data on poverty, adult education attainment, unemployment and school performance across comparator cities and for England as a whole. The findings were quashed on grounds of serious procedural irregularities. Indeed, neither the Kershaw Report, nor the Clarke Report asked the question of how a school could be taken over by governors and teachers. Andrew Gilligan of The Daily Telegraph wrote extensively on the episode. Ms.Kondal alleged she had been the victim of undue and unlawful pressure to resign her position by both parents and governors. [2], Russell Hobby, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers said the organisation could not fully endorse the report. " 'Trojan Horse' schools: the leaked inspectors' report". Telegraph Blogs. Archived from the original on 23 April 2014. ^ Gilligan, Andrew (9 March 2014). "Extremists and the 'Trojan Horse' approach in state schools". The Telegraph. ^ "Trojan Horse leaked report says pupils 'not protected from extremism' ". WebBook written by Mark Russinovich. 163-183. [80] Effective strategies were not in place to deal with extremism and "governance, safety, pupils' cultural development, equal opportunities and the teaching of religious education are all inadequate". [14], Ofsted inspections were undertaken into 21 schools in Birmingham, with the Education Funding Agency (responsible for academy schools) also investigating Park View Education Trust and Oldknow Academy. [citation needed], After resisting attempts by governors to impose an Islamic ethos, teachers were suspended and its principal, Jennifer McIntosh, and her deputy, faced attempts to oust them. The letter was leaked to the press in March 2014. [2], The leaked letter on the alleged plot was reported by media including the BBC on 7 March 2014. Media coverage of Operation Trojan Horse was varied. [26] Waseem Yaqub, former Head of Governors at Al-Hijrah school, called it "a McCarthy-style witch-hunt" and that the letter was used by councillors "to turn on [Muslims] and use Muslims as scapegoats". [24], Members of Parliament of all three major parties in Birmingham wrote a joint letter for an inquiry. "[49], In Bradford, teachers reported instances of governors imposing an Islamic ethos. A sixth school was labelled inadequate for its poor educational standards and twelve schools were found needing of improvements. The school has a largely Muslim governing body. [62] The deputy head of Nansen Primary School, Razwan Faraz, leads a group called the "Educational Activists" which he says introduces an "Islamising agenda" in Birmingham state schools. If that fails get rid of the white kid." [64] The Ofsted report stated that "students' understanding of other religions is scant as the religious education curriculum focuses primarily on the study of Islam"[65] and said there was a "perceived unfairness and lack of transparency" over appointments to the school and that female members of staff had felt intimidated. It described the ideology being promoted as "an intolerant and politicised form of extreme social conservatism that claims to represent and ultimately seeks to control all Muslims. Neither report addressed this, nor did they report any interviews with those officials and the minutes of the meetings that took place among senior leaders at the various schools. "This is a reminder that this is a serious issue and something that is not going to be solved overnight. Assistant principal Lee Donaghy, a self-declared agnostic, said that the school was achieving more by "accommodating" Muslim practices, but called it "pernicious" the idea "that people running the school are trying to force more religion on these kids than the parents want". The New York Times podcast "The Trojan Horse Affair" uncovered this secret document that disproves one of the central allegations of the Trojan Horse letter, that there was a conspiracy against the headteacher of Adderley primary school. The latter found that there is "no evidence to suggest that there is a problem with governance generally" nor any "evidence of terrorism, radicalisation or violent extremism in the schools of concern in Birmingham", but said that there was "evidence that there are a number of people, associated with each other and in positions of influence in schools and governing bodies, who espouse, sympathise with or fail to challenge extremist views", and that there had been "co-ordinated, deliberate and sustained" attempts "by a number of associated individuals, to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos" into "a few schools in Birmingham". [102] Mahmood, said that he felt that it was certain that "Salafists" were attempting to change the school's secular nature and "split young people away from their parents". Now the audio game-changer has made a divisive UK story the focus of a new eight-part series, its first overseas outing. [27] As Holmwood and O'Toole show, neither the Kershaw Report nor the Clarke Report gave any attention to the schools improvement policies of Birmingham City Council or the Department for Education. In 2017, the academic scholars Therese O'Toole and John Holmwood, who served as an expert witness in the professional misconduct cases, described the Trojan Horse affair as a "false narrative" spread by a hostile British press which led to "a serious miscarriage of justice" against the teachers, drawing comparisons to the Hillsborough affair. Book review by Rick Howard Like Zero Day, another Mark Russinovich novel I recently reviewed for the Cybersecurity Canon, Trojan Horse is a book Id recommend for casual readers.Cybersecurity professionals wont learn anything new here, but all readers might enjoy wallowing around in a Tom Clancy-esque story [72][73][74], Ofsted found that a small group of governors were "endeavouring to promote a particular and narrow faith-based ideology in what is a maintained and non-faith academy". Despite calling for secrecy, a hidden recording was sent to The Daily Telegraph, in which Rogers criticised the approach to the conspiracy by Education Secretary Michael Gove and Chief Schools Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw. One EFA inspector went on to become educational adviser to Peter Clarke. [53], In July 2014, after the reports had been published, Bore apologised and admitted that the council had ignored Operation Trojan Horse due to "fear of being accused of racism". Nor did Clarke report any interviews with schools improvement officers at the local authority of the Department for Education. The 16-year-old girl's phone was confiscated by the teacher during a Sunday event and then taken to a shop for its passcode to be broken, and its contents were then examined by the school. While this kit can be [62] A former staff member said that one teacher had handed out a worksheet stating that women "must obey their husbands", and told his class that wives were forbidden from refusing their husbands sex. The Trojan Horse scandal, also known as " Operation Trojan Horse " or the Trojan Horse affair, refers to a scandal involving claims of an alleged conspiracy that there was an organised attempt by some individuals to introduce an Islamist or Salafist ethos into several schools in Birmingham, England. In a discussion on 5 February 2014, a teacher at Oldknow and governor at Small Heath School, revealed that the group's favoured candidate had become the head teacher at Small Heath. The Trojan Horse scandal, also known as "Operation Trojan Horse" or the Trojan Horse affair, involves claims of an alleged conspiracy[1][2] that there was an organised attempt to introduce an "Islamist" or "Salafist" ethos into several schools in Birmingham, England. None of those involved in the Trojan horse affair were criminals in the conventional sense of the word. [3][4] Birmingham City Council imposed a temporary freeze on the appointment of school governors after probes into Operation Trojan Horse were announced. Staff were afraid to speak out about the significant changes. [12] West Midlands Police and the city council investigated whether the letter was a hoax and the plot had been concocted to support Adderley's school case at the employment tribunal. 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