Conclusions and recommendations
The investigations
1. There was a proven
"lack of inquisitiveness" within the Department for
Education prior to the receipt of the Trojan Horse letter. Whilst
this may be partially explained by the general level of awareness
of such issues at the time, the timeline supplied by the DfE indicates
that the Department was slow to take an active interest between
the receipt of the letter in December 2013 and March 2014 when
the issue became public. This is more surprising, given the change
in context and the heightened emphasis on combating radicalisation
and extremism. We are not convinced that "open source checking"
was a sufficient response to the seriousness of the allegations
being made to the DfE. (Paragraph 26)
2. The sheer number
of organisations which became involved indicated the complexity
of emerging oversight arrangements for schools. The number of
overlapping inquiries contributed to the sense of crisis and confusion,
and the number of reports, coming out at different times and often
leaked in advance, was far from helpful. (Paragraph 27)
3. The scope for coordination
between inquiries by the EFA, Ofsted and others is restricted
by their statutory roles but more coordination could and should
have been achieved. The DfE must ensure that such needless duplication
does not happen again. (Paragraph 28)
4. All the reports
included recommendations that went far beyond the situation in
the particular schools concerned. The findings of the reports
need to be drawn together. We recommend that DfE draw together
the recommendations from all the investigations and set out its
response. (Paragraph 29)
Role of Ofsted
5. Ofsted's inability
to identify problems at some Birmingham schools on first inspection
when they were found shortly afterwards to be failing raises questions
about the appropriateness of the framework and the reliability
and robustness of Ofsted's judgements and how they are reached.
Either Ofsted relied too heavily on raw data and did not dig deep
enough on previous occasions or alternatively the schools deteriorated
so quickly that Ofsted reports were rapidly out of date, or it
could be that inspectors lost objectivity and came to some overly
negative conclusions because of the surrounding political and
media storm. Whichever of these options is closest to the truth,
confidence in Ofsted has been undermined and efforts should be
made by the inspectorate to restore it in Birmingham and beyond.
(Paragraph 41)
Lessons for the DfE
6. Our recent report
on academies and free schools addresses many of the issues of
oversight which have arisen in the context of the Trojan Horse
inquiries. The greater autonomy of academies makes it easier for
a group of similar-minded people to control a school. While it
should be remembered that several of the governors criticised
in Birmingham were local government appointees, the DfE needs
to be alert to the risks of abuse of academy freedoms of all kinds
and be able to respond quickly. (Paragraph 60)
7. It is vital that
information is shared effectively between the various bodies responsible
for oversight of schools. This was a problem in Birmingham and
the DfE needs to keep its new arrangements under review to ensure
that they are working well. (Paragraph 61)
8. The recent steps
taken to strengthen the Due Diligence and Counter Extremism Division
are welcome, all the more so for being overdue. The unit should
also have a higher profile. We recommend that the Secretary of
State make an annual written ministerial statement on the priorities
and achievements of the DDCED. (Paragraph
62)
British values
9. The British values
which are now to be promoted in all schools are universal and
an important part of what children should learn. We support the
introduction of the requirement on all schools to ensure that
such values are actively promoted to all students. Monitoring
how they are promoted in individual schools must be done with
common sense and sensitivity. (Paragraph 72)
Impact on children in Birmingham
10. The children in
the schools affected in Birmingham deserve better from all involved.
The DfE must continue to monitor the situation in the individual
schools. We welcome the extension of the appointment of Sir Mike
Tomlinson as education commissioner to address wider problems
in education in Birmingham. (Paragraph 79)
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