Five more ‘Trojan Horse’ teachers at disciplinary hearings over ‘full Islamist takeover’ claim

A 'TROJAN Horse' school in Birmingham has done more to make children aware of the dangers of extremism than anywhere else.

So claimed one of the staff members at a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.

In a Department of Education (DfE) inquiry in Coventry on 23 February into the conduct of a number of teachers, Hardeep Saini insisted that accusations of trying to 'corrupt the curriculum' were exaggerated.

Mr Saini, a teacher at Park View Academy, along with Arshad Hussein, Lindsey Clark, Monzoor Hussein and Razwan Faraz, are accused of seeking to or allowing others to teach extremist interpretations of Islam to their students.

Their aim was to initiate a full takeover of several Birmingham schools by recruiting governors and head teachers sympathetic to strongly salafist interpretations of Islam, it was alleged.

The schools at the centre of the scandal include Park View Academy, Golden Hillock School and Nansen Primary School. Eleven teachers have already faced misconduct hearings over their behaviour throughout the affair.

Another witness, Dr Marius Felderhof, an adviser on religious education programmes in schools, insisted that the topics covered at Park View Academy were 'wholly appropriate and edifying.'

He said: ‘It is quite proper for non-faith schools to have a religious dimension.'

His words came after those investigating the case expressed their concerns about Islam-focused prayers and assemblies being promoted heavily in Park View, despite it not being a religious school.

However, the two-day hearing in Coventry on 22 and 23 February was inconclusive, ending only with an agreement that the inquiry would continue in May 2016.

Conservative

The accusations of extremist teaching were brought to light in March 2014 after a copy of an anonymous letter, giving guidelines on installing strongly conservative Muslim clerics in schools, was leaked to the media. 

Birmingham City Council subsequently said, according to the Birmingham Mail, that it received ‘hundreds’ of allegations of plots similar to those in the letter, some dating back over twenty years.

Ofsted and the Department for Education investigated the claims, with as many as 25 schools at one point being accused of complicity in a plot.

The schools in question denied the accusation made by Schools Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, that they were 'imposing and promoting a narrow faith-based ideology.'

However, several schools were placed under special measures, while others were threatened with having their funding cut if the concerns were not addressed.

Birmingham City Council stated in July 2014 that their inquiry had uncovered no evidence of violent extremist ideas being promoted in the schools in question.

Yet a report written for the Department for Education (DfE) by retired senior police officer with Counter Terrorism Command Peter Clarke OBE, maintained that people in influential positions had done little to challenge extremist ideas whenever they emerged in the school environment.

Systemic

The investigatory process into the 'Trojan Horse' affair has been dogged by controversy, with some claiming that any evidence of a plot to impose extremist Islamic ideology on secular schools has been over-hyped. The Education Select Committee claimed in March 2015 that the affair had been uncoordinated, with no evidence of systemic indoctrination.

West Midlands Police also criticised the government's decision to recruit the person formally responsible for the government's counter-terrorism strategy to lead the investigation, claiming it would send out the wrong kind of message to many Muslims.

Members of the Park View Educational Trust (PVET), which operates three of the schools at the centre of the controversy, also described the government's campaign as 'vicious' and 'fatally flawed’.

However, the DfE accused the Education Select Committee of understating the extent of the problem, in turn undercutting the government's attempts to address religious extremism.

A series of disciplinary hearings was begun in October 2015 for the teachers at Park View School accused of promoting extremist Islamic ideas.

In particular, anti-semitic and anti-Western rhetoric were reported to be commonly used by staff and students. The head teacher at the time, Lindsey Clark, was accused of failing to address incidents exposing intolerance of other worldviews. Children were banned from playing musical instruments.  Student ambassadors were appointed as ‘religious police’ to report on staff.

At least one head teacher was forced to retire on breakdown leave. (See our special report here.)

The government's approach to the Trojan Horse affair has fed into concerns about their counter-extremism strategy, which some regard as too heavy-handed and carrying the potential to alienate Muslim communities.

However, Birmingham Education Commissioner Mike Tomlinson claimed in July 2015 that the original letter was real, and claims over the extent of the radicalisation attempts were not exaggerated.  

Furthermore, concerns about attempts by deeply conservative Muslims to infiltrate schools are reported to have been raised as early as 1994 with then-Education Minister Emily Blatch. Although she tried to take the case forward, the then-Secretary of State Chris Patten insisted that it was ‘only a local matter’.

Disciplinary hearings, although they take place in front of decision-making bodies, are notable for being less formal than trials and often shorter.

Hearings also avoid having the two parties in a dispute coming together in the same place, and are an attempt to avoid a trial. Teachers facing hearings are unable to work throughout the process. If the Department for Education finds against those in the Trojan Horse affair, they could each face a lifelong ban from teaching.

Read our special report by John Ray OBE, the whistle-blower the government ignored.