A sixth school was labelled inadequate for its poor educational standards and twelve schools were found needing of improvements. [4], These claims by witnesses were unsubstantiated. [99], Harriet Harman, the shadow Culture Secretary, urged the Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, to protect music from being dropped from school curriculums after learning this had taken place at one of the investigated schools. [103] When the reports were published, Mahmood said that scepticism of the original letter could be "put in the bin", but some people still had "their heads buried in the sand". [18] The council's Chief Executive, Mark Rogers, said that there was no plot, but that "new communities" had raised "legitimate questions and challenges" to the "liberal education system". Three cases against junior teachers were heard separately from that against the senior leadership team at PVET. Additionally, students were expected to fast during the month of Ramadan. Indeed, neither the Kershaw Report, nor the Clarke Report asked the question of how a school could be taken over by governors and teachers. [5][15][16] Golden Hillock School, Nansen Primary School, Park View School all run by the Park View Educational Trust Oldknow Academy and Saltley School were placed in special measures after inspectors found systemic failings including the schools having failed to take adequate steps to safeguard pupils against extremism. 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. Akmal criticised female politicians, saying: "She has to sacrifice her family, she has to sacrifice her children, she has to sacrifice her husband, all in the name of equality." [135][136] No mention was made of the fact that allegations of extremism had not been any part of the charges against teachers. [4] No evidence was provided to substantiate these claims. [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". Serial Productions recently released its latest investigative podcast series, "The Trojan Horse Affair." [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". From Serial Productions and The New York Times, The Trojan Horse [20] Ian Kershaw, Head of Northern Education Trust in Newcastle, was named as its full-time special adviser.[52]. Michael Gove. Mark Panton and Geoff Walters (2019) Tottenhams Trojan Horse? The report found that attempts were made to introduce Sharia law in schools. [88] This showed that most schools conflated the two and did not have teachers trained in the Prevent duty. Indeed, in presenting his charges, Clarke commented that "it is only fair to point out that the Trust disputed most, if not all, of the allegations". Teachers taught the children at Park View Academy that "good" Muslim women must wear a hijab and tie up their hair. Following a forensic report by a handwriting expert for the tribunal that strongly suggested the signatures were fraudulent, Birmingham City Council advised Adderley's leadership not to fight the claims and withdrew the usual indemnity granted to council-run schools. an "issue of education management", or appeasement. The Department for Education had also commissioned a report by Ipso Mori in 2010 into how schools understood their duties with regard to Community Cohesions and Prevent. Based on drawings and written records, this Trojan Horse model allows you to recreate one of the most epic tales of ancient Troyalthough on a much smaller scale. However, what was at issue also included other documents outside the Clarke Report that had potentially been relevant to the case. After the Trojans got within four, the Long Beach Poly product rattled off his own mini 7-0 run. Hamza Syed There was a fact checker on our team who said when he heard that scene, it brought a context that has largely been missing from what it actually means to be Muslim. [58] Ofsted found that "the governing body has removed some subjects, such as music, from the timetable". [17], Birmingham City Council announced an investigation into the allegations, estimated to last six months. What has happened has brought the integrity of the process into disrepute". [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. 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. Segregationism dividing the world into 'us' and 'them', with them to include all non-Muslims and other Muslims who disagree; Attempts to impose its views and practices upon others; Intolerance of difference, whether the secular, other religions or other Muslims. [28] This included a special concern with the achievement of pupils of Asian heritage, as set out in its "Asian heritage achievement action plan" of 19 December 2003. At the heart of the affair "[57], At Park View School, Ofsted reported that "students are not taught citizenship well enough or prepared properly for life in a multi-cultural and diverse society". [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. Mark was definitely the author. [26] In protest of the investigations, Tahir Alam and several governors of affected schools resigned. [58] Ofsted stated that the school had failed to protect students from "the risks of radicalisation and extremism". [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. It said evidence pointed to a group of "British male governors and teachers, predominantly of Pakistani heritage". [123] The Guardian also revealed that West Midlands Police was investigating whether the alleged plot was a hoax concocted to support one of the schools named in the plot, Adderley primary school, in an industrial dispute. [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. Others were challenged in court before the case against the senior teachers was discontinued. "Dossier of Trojan horse evidence finally laid bare after leaks and allegations". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2022. ^ Oldham, Jeanette (11 June 2014). "Trojan Horse: Birmingham academy spent 50,000 on trip to Saudi Arabia using travel firm linked to school director". Birmingham Mail. Of 21 schools investigated by Ofsted, and 14 schools investigated by the Clarke Report, charges were brought against teachers at just 4 schools. [citation needed], An investigation ordered by the government found a "sustained, co-ordinated agenda to impose segregationist attitudes and practices of a hardline, politicised strain of Sunni Islam" in several Birmingham schools. Agent: Mark Walters - (772)-201-5650. Four teacher assistants were suing the school for unfair dismissal after being forced out of the school with fake resignation letters signed in their names. 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. It was entitled Towards Greater Understanding: Meeting the Needs of Muslim Pupils in State Schools. Neoptolemus son of Achilles, who according to a prophecy had to fight at Troy in order for the Achaeans to be victorious. 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". He criticised the approaches to the story by the BBC[120] and The Guardian, which he claimed were unduly biased in favour of the schools. 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". [119], Tahir Alam, chair of governors at Park View and labelled by some newspapers as the "ringleader" of Operation Trojan Horse, resigned alongside all of his board of trustees on 15 July. [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". [19] It found evidence that the "five steps" to destabilise a school's leadership, as outlined in the original Trojan Horse letter, were "present in a large number of the schools considered part of the investigation". [126], Akmal said that jailing gay people and adulterers was a "moral position to hold" and that they should be exiled from the community. The investigation found that "terms such as condom, the pill and so forth have been banned" and that governors had insisted on an Islamic approach to subjects, such as Personal, Social and Health Education, science, religious education, and sex and relationships education. [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". He said that its conclusions did not reflect the full reality in schools, and that discrepancies between this and the governmental report were "regrettable and unhelpful". But who wrote it? The previous trustees of the academy having been replaced, she withdrew her resignation and returned to her post on 19August 2014. Unlike the teachers, the lawyers involved in serious impropriety were not subject to professional misconduct charges despite the cost of the hearings. The two inquiries shared evidence, with the Kershaw inquiry deferring matters of extremism to the Clarke inquiry. Journal of Qualitative Research in Sports Studies, 13, He said that the overview report on the matter could trigger "some kind of bloody firestorm" and "may well lead to significant structural proposals" for the city council. 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". [86], The investigation found there to be "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 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". [122] The Guardian also analysed Michael Gove's book on combatting Islamist terror, Celsius 7/7, pointing out that a chapter is titled "The Trojan Horse". 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. 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". The pupils were told at an assembly not to send Christmas cards and that Mary was not the mother of Jesus. Ofsted said it had found evidence of an organised campaign to target certain schools by Islamists and that head teachers had been "marginalised or forced out of their jobs". [5] Ofsted subsequently expanded their investigation into schools in East London, Bradford and Luton over concerns regarding a limited curriculum and pupils' detachment from the wider community. "This is a reminder that this is a serious issue and something that is not going to be solved overnight. They built a wooden horse, which they left outside the city. Other details can be found in Man-in-the-browser attack. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Chief Inspector at Ofsted, had commented at a national conference that "All schools should be like this and there's no reason why they shouldn't be. "[92], The report concluded that based on the examination of emails and correspondence: "There is incontrovertible evidence that both senior officials and elected members of Birmingham council were aware of activities that bear a striking resemblance to those described in the Trojan horse letter many months before it surfaced. 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". Most of the allegations presented in the Ofsted and EFA reports were not part of the cases against the teachers because they were not believed to be credible by NCTL lawyers. 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. The teachers were barred from responding to the allegations due to confidentiality orders as part of their employment contracts that were binding also after the suspension. [56][bettersourceneeded], Park View academy had been identified as outstanding in a 2012 Ofsted report, the first school to be inspected under a tougher new inspection regime introduced by then Secretary of State. [2], Golden Hillock School, Nansen Primary School, Park View Academy all run by the Park View Educational Trust Oldknow Academy and Saltley School were placed in special measures after inspectors found systemic failings including the schools having failed to take adequate steps to safeguard pupils against extremism. Book Sport Policy and Politics in an Era of Austerity. In its separatist assertions and attempts to subvert normal processes it amounts to what is often described as Islamism. Youre otherwise a regular Joe, you just go and pray on occasions. 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. [19], In an incident that was referred to counter-terrorism police, a teacher told the pupils at the Golden Hillock school "not to listen to Christians as they were all liars". [25], A number of governors and the Muslim Council of Britain dubbed the reaction of authorities to the plot a "witch-hunt". The Trojans believed the horse was a peace offering and dragged it inside their city. The books contained fundamentalist views and promoted executions, stoning and lashing as appropriate punishments. However, because some of the schools were academies under the responsibility of the Department for Education, the then Secretary of State, Michael Gove, commissioned a separate report by Peter Clarke, the former head of the Metropolitan police's counterterrorism command. Responsibility for determinations for academy schools passed to the Department for Education, but they put in place no measures for renewing determinations. [citation needed] A senior teacher told inspectors that the solution to all problems would be a global Caliphate under Sharia law. [125], An undercover reporter working for the Daily Mirror posed as a wealthy businessman and potential client of the training firm Exquisitus, a firm owned by Shahid Akmal, the chairman of governors at Nansen Primary School. Senior leaders did not ensure "balanced views of the world" were taught and that "contact with different cultures, faiths and traditions is too limited to promote tolerance and respect for the views, lifestyles and customs of other people". [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. Ofsted subsequently expanded their investigation into schools in the north and south-east of England. Speaking after withdrawing her resignation, Ms.Kondal said: "The pressures outlined in the Trojan Horse letter are very real and it mustn't be allowed to happen again. 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. 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. "[78], Segregation was found in one classroom with girls sitting at the back with their heads covered. He noted that in Tower Hamlets, a borough in which 32 per cent of the population is Bangladeshi, the Tower Hamlets First Party, of which the Mayor was a member, had 18 councillors who were all Bangladeshi, and 17 of them were men. In July 2015, Ofsted stated that Golden Hillock was still inadequate. It effectively ended the war, demonstrating the ingenuity of the Greeks. [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". [19] Like Peter Clarke, Kershaw seemed unaware that all schools had a duty to promote community cohesion. [9] The introduction of the document states that the "purpose is to promote greater understanding of the faith, religious and cultural needs of Muslim pupils and how they can be accommodated within schools. [23] The government terminated its funding arrangement with three of the schools. 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. [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. The report identified the Muslim Council of Britain and the Association of Muslim Schools as organisations "[stemming] from an international movement to increase the role of Islam in education". The Panel had been ready to announce its decision in the case on 23 December 2016, but an urgent application for disclosure, relating, in part, to transcripts associated with the Clarke Report, was made by defence lawyers on 24 November 2016. [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". For the ufology book, see, Saltley School and Specialist Science College, Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College, Political row between Home Office and Department for Education, National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) hearings, Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, "Trojan horse: the real story behind the fake 'Islamic plot' to take over schools", Report into allegations concerning Birmingham schools arising from the 'Trojan Horse' letter, "Trojan horse inquiry: 'A coordinated agenda to impose hardline Sunni Islam', "Trojan Horse: Ofsted says schools were targeted", "Birmingham City Council receives 'hundreds' of allegations after Trojan Horse claims", "Guide to school Islamisation, by 'ringleader' of Trojan Horse plot", "Investigation Report: Trojan Horse Letter (The Kershaw Report)", "Banned school governor Tahir Alam fights gay equality lessons", "High court overturns lifetime bans for Trojan horse teachers", https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Trojan-Horse-Affair.pdf, "Michael Gove calls New York Times 'useful idiots' for Trojan horse podcast", "Islamist plot: six schools face Ofsted special measures", "Police arrest four former teaching assistants from 'Trojan Horse' school", "Trojan Horse: Ofsted probe widens to Luton and London", "Trojan Horse: Birmingham council 'accepts' Ofsted reports", "Christians lie and wives must have sex or go to hell, Trojan Horse pupils told", "Birmingham council freezes appointment of school governors following Trojan Horse probe", "Guidance on promoting British values in schools published", "PM threatens snap Ofsted inspections over 'Trojan Horse' affair", "Trojan Horse: Three schools to lose funding", "Trojan horse report: All schoolchildren to be taught British values from September, says Michael Gove", "Education and Muslims: End this Witch-Hunt of British Muslims", "Education experts voice fury over Ofsted's 'Trojan Horse' schools inquiry", "Jihadist plot to take over Birmingham schools", "Shamed head and deputy banned from teaching over SATs tests cheating", "Alleged Islamic plot to take over Birmingham schools may be hoax", "Trojan Horse affair: Midlands student behind controversial podcast", "Is the Trojan horse row just a witch hunt triggered by a hoax? [18] Birmingham City Council commissioned Ian Kershaw of Northern Education Trust in Newcastle to review the evidence. WebThe Trojan Horse Affair raises a serious question that requires an answer. "[4] He conducted no interviews with governors or teachers who were accused of misconduct, with the exception of Tahir Alam. [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. There was evidence from officials at the Department for Education responsible for managing the incorporation of schools into PVET, as well as initiating a memorandum of agreement between PVET and Oldknow (paragraph 123). [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. Ofsted found that the curriculum was being narrowed to reflect the "personal views of a few governors". [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'". Another school investigated, Alston Primary, was already in special measures. This affected the teaching of English, Art, Religious Education and Personal, Social and Health Education. [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] 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". [2], The hearings dramatically came back into media attention in October 2016 after one of the hearings that had concluded with guilty verdicts against two teachers went to the High Court on appeal. [22] Pupils and staff stayed in luxury five-star hotels. He has performed over 60 operatic roles in the standard
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