banned from any involvement with schools,[10] while the bans against 14 other teachers were eventually overturned, dropped and/or dismissed in courts between 2016 and 2017. [59][7] The school staff defended the measures stating that the loudspeakers were put up to make announcements in general, not only the Islamic prayer call and that every school in Britain is legally required to provide a collective act of worship, which is usually Christian in nature but in their case was Islamic for which they applied for and received permission. Around a month later, Birmingham City Council revealed that following the letter release it had received hundreds of allegations of plots similar to those described in the letter, some claims dating back over 20 years. WebTrojan horse virus, also called trojan, may be defined as malware that appears to be legitimate or appropriate software and used by attackers to compromise the systems security. At paragraph 37 of his judgement, he writes that. Servant Leader and faithful optimist of delivering an exceptional partnership product experience. Now the audio game-changer has made a divisive UK story the focus of a new eight-part series, its first overseas outing. Texts and images of the girl with a boy, a fellow Year 11 pupil at Park View, were used to justify the girl's suspension weeks before her GCSE exams. It also provides useful information and guidance and features of good practice in meeting those needs. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 10 (1), pp. But who wrote it? None of those involved in the Trojan horse affair were criminals in the conventional sense of the word. Pupils studying biology were not taught the section of the syllabus about reproduction and the teacher stated when briefly outlining evolution that "this is not what we believe". The school had a determination from the local SACRE to provide Islamic collective worship since 1996. "[4] He conducted no interviews with governors or teachers who were accused of misconduct, with the exception of Tahir Alam. Responsibility for determinations for academy schools passed to the Department for Education, but they put in place no measures for renewing determinations. [104], In May, David Blunkett announced that if in government again, the Labour Party would appoint an 'Independent Director of School Standards' with the power to monitor academies: "In April 2014, the alleged Operation Trojan Horse in Birmingham demonstrated the difficulties that have arisen from this 'absence of transparency'". [12][1], In December 2022 a report from right-leaning Policy Exchange challenged the findings of the New York Times podcast and suggested that various reports into the matter had uncovered real causes for concern. [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. [58], The government ordered an inspection of the Olive Tree school following comments by its head, Abdul Qadeer Baksh, that in an ideal Islamic state, homosexuality would be punishable by death. [45], In May 2014, the BBC reported that Tim Boyes, the former headteacher of Queensbridge School, had written anonymously to Birmingham City Council in 2010 to try to expose Operation Trojan Horse,[46] and in June a former prospective school governor said that he had informed authorities of the conspiracy in 2008. [8], Ofsted found that the governing body interfered with the running of Saltley School and undermined the work of its senior leaders. [5] The inspections found that head teachers have been "marginalised or forced out of their jobs". 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. ", "Birmingham Trojan Horse letter 'no hoax', "Top academy investigated for 'sidelining' non-Muslim staff", "Inner-city academy investigated after being accused of 'side-lining' its non-Muslim staff and trying to put Islamic studies on curriculum", "Trojan Horse: 25 schools probed over alleged takeover plot", "Head teachers raise 'serious concerns' over Islamic school take-over", "City fights new Trojan Horse Islamic schools plot", "Teachers 'assaulted and marginalised in Islamising plot', "Birmingham 'Trojan Horse' plot 'started 20 years ago', "Ministers 'given Trojan Horse schools warning in 2010', "Trojan Horse fears in Birmingham 'raised in 2008', "Watch: Oldknow Academy principal: 'I was forced out by Trojan Horse plotters', "Bradford school governors 'promoted Islamic agenda', "Trojan Horse probe headed by ex-Met chief Peter Clarke", "Trojan Horse: Special adviser brought in to investigate 25 Birmingham schools", "Council expects 'firestorm' over Trojan Horse schools plot", "Schedule 1: Breaches of the Funding Agreement and/or legislation applicable to Academies", "Ofsted inspectors make U-turn on 'Trojan Horse' school, leak shows", "Trojan Horse schools: 'British values' must be promoted in the classroom, says Michael Gove", "Girls claim discrimination at 'Trojan Horse' school", "Extremists and the 'Trojan Horse' approach in state schools", "Trojan Horse leaked report says pupils 'not protected from extremism', "Trojan Horse school Golden Hillock still 'inadequate', Ofsted finds", "Hardeep Saini, Sikh Teacher in Britain Accused of Unprofessional Conduct Towards The Students", "Trojan Horse school looking to new future", "Trojan Horse school forced to recruit teachers from Australia", "Culture of fear and intimidation in Birmingham schools, says Ofsted chief", "Muslim teacher spoke of 'white prostitutes' to children in assembly", "Gove to order teaching of 'British values', "Dossier of Trojan horse evidence finally laid bare after leaks and allegations", "Trojan Horse: Birmingham academy spent 50,000 on trip to Saudi Arabia using travel firm linked to school director", "Trojan Horse schools: Harriet Harman calls on Government to protect music lessons", "Trojan Horse hearings: Pupils shown picture of white person to teach them what Christians looks like", "Michael Gove calls for further schools investigations after Trojan Horse affair", "Books 'promoting stoning' found at Olive Tree Primary School", "Trojan Horse row: Teachers suspended for refusing to impose strict Islamic model", "Birmingham schools: Education Commissioner's report", Teacher misconduct panel outcome: Mr Monzoor Hussain, Mr Hardeep Saini, Mr Arshad Hussain, Mr Razwan Faraz, Ms Lindsey Clark. "This is a reminder that this is a serious issue and something that is not going to be solved overnight. A sixth school was labelled inadequate for its poor educational standards and twelve schools were found needing of improvements. [85] The governors of the school were sacked in April because of inappropriate interference in the running of the school. [4], Student ambassadors, known as "religious police" by some staff, are appointed at Park View to report "the names of staff or students who exhibit behaviours deemed unacceptable by conservative Muslims". It said that there was never a serious effort to ascertain what was happening in school governing bodies, and that council's approach had been described as one of "appeasement and a failure in their duty of care towards their employees". The Trojan Horse was a clever idea that turned the tide of the war in favor of the Greeks. The Department for Education had also commissioned a report by Ipsos Mori in 2010 into how schools understood their duties with regard to Community Cohesions and Prevent. is for sale online, in a number of independent bookshops, including one in Seattle, and in a major bookshop chain in London. The art curriculum was altered to "remove full faces or immodest images, such as paintings by Gustav Klimt". Under the academy schools programme, it could only be done with the active involvement of officials in the local authority (including over the transfer of assets to the new trust) and at the Department for Education and it would require an academically successful school to be the sponsor of 'failing' schools. He found "very clear evidence" that young people were encouraged to "accept unquestionably a particular hardline strand of Sunni Islam that raises concerns about their vulnerability to radicalisation in the future". 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. [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". Staff were prevented from teaching Sex and Relationships Advice freely as well as aspects of Safeguarding and Child Protection. [2]:15, In May 2015, the National Association of Head Teachers' annual conference heard that the problems associated with Operation Trojan Horse persisted, and there were claims that teachers had received death threats for attempting to dissuade students away from homophobia. [4], The investigation obtained 3,000 messages, spanning 130 pages of transcripts, of a private WhatsApp discussion between a group of teachers at Park View School called the Park View Brotherhood. [58] Governors at the school banned any discussions regarding sexual orientation and intimacy. It effectively ended the war, demonstrating the ingenuity of the Greeks. [115], David Hughes, a trustee at Park View School, claimed that Ofsted's investigation of the school was biased, and dubbed the inspection a "witch hunt". Another teacher told the children that were "lucky to be Muslims and not ignorant like Christians and Jews". An alleged Trojan Horse plotter claims the Nazis could have killed as few as 100,000 Jews. Three cases against junior teachers were heard separately from that against the senior leadership team at PVET. [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. Serial Productions recently released its latest investigative podcast series, "The Trojan Horse Affair." Responsibility for determinations for academy schools passed to the Department for Education, but they put in place no measures for renewing determinations. Her credibility was called into question by the NCTL Panel when discontinuing the case. [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. [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 group promoted links to extremist speakers that betrayed "an Islamist approach that denied the validity of alternative belief", and some group members who believed that the murder of Lee Rigby was staged, encouraged other members to promulgate this view. [3][4][5] The name, based on the Greek legend, comes from an anonymous letter sent to Birmingham City Council in late 2013, alleged to be from Birmingham "Islamists" detailing how to wrest control of a school, and speculating about expanding the scheme to other cities. From Serial Productions and The New York Times, The Trojan Horse [101] Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Perry Barr, said that the City Council may have known of previous plots, but not acted due to fears of being seen as anti-Islamic. [citation needed] Later, he was critical of the Conservatives' plan to teach "British values", claiming that it would alienate moderate Muslims. [51], Ofsted investigated in 21 schools in Birmingham in March 2014. [40], Based on interview and research in The New York Times podcast Serial, the producers argue that most levels of government did not prioritise the identification of the letter's author. [98] New clauses were added into funding agreements for academies, stating that the Secretary for Education could close schools whose governors do not comply with "fundamental British values". [7] Pupils and teachers from Park View School denied this version of the story, saying that after this assertion had been raised by a boy during a presentation on sexual education teachers organised an assembly where they explained that "marital rape was legally and morally wrong". [1][11] The allegations against the teachers were set out in the press and in the Kershaw and Clarke Reports. At Park View, Golden Hillock, Nansen and Oldknow academy, it is alleged that teachers were instructed not to use images in any subject which displayed even slight intimacy between sexes. Initially, the failure to disclose the transcripts was explained as a "departmental misunderstanding", albeit one, according to the Panel, where, "even on that basis such failure was simply unacceptable". Media reporting expressed alarm that the transcripts were those of 'whistleblowers' who had provided statements under terms of confidentiality.[132]. [108][109] The Prime Minister, David Cameron, intervened, requiring that Secretary for Education Michael Gove apologise to the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism head Charles Farr for briefings critical of him appearing in The Times, and Home Secretary Theresa May to sack a close adviser, Fiona Cunningham, known to be in a relationship with Farr,[110] who was found by a Downing Street inquiry to have been the source of a negative briefing against Gove. "[78], Segregation was found in one classroom with girls sitting at the back with their heads covered. The previous trustees of the academy having been replaced, she withdrew her resignation and returned to her post on 19August 2014. [37], The controversy started with a disclosure by a former teacher from Park View School,[38] who was later named as Michael White. It criticised the spending of the school's budget on paying private investigators to investigate the emails of senior staff and paying for meals in restaurants. It also included evidence from then secretary to Birmingham SACRE, given to the Clarke inquiry but not reported by him, which "conflicts with the evidence of NCTL witnesses who had been saying that it was wrong for collective worship to be solely about Islam when a school had a determination but [the secretary] who had been with SACRE for 9 years, said it was acceptable" (paragraph 125). However, it transpired that, just before the Panel was due to rule on 3 May 2017 on an application by the defence lawyers to discontinue, the NCTL presented a note from their solicitors. [4] No evidence was provided to substantiate these claims. [112] The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has also expressed concerns about the scope of the problem in other major cities, whilst advising that there was no "cause for panic". the Panel expressly stated in each decision, when pronounced on 9 February 2016, that the allegations were "in no way concerned with extremism". Jaimie Martin, former special adviser at the Department for Education, wrote that "it is important to note as [the teachers] were not tried for the charges, they were therefore not cleared of them", and that "people who downplay the seriousness of Trojan Horse, claiming those involved exhibited 'mainstream' Islamic views, are guilty not only of stunning naivety, but of a dangerous error". "[49], In Bradford, teachers reported instances of governors imposing an Islamic ethos. The word of Tahir Alam credibility was called into question by the NCTL Panel discontinuing. Were found needing of improvements 1 ] [ 11 ] the governors of the war in favor of the.. 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