Author: Richard Garner, Education
Editor
Publication: The Independent
Date: January 18, 2005
URL: http://education.independent.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=601946
The chief schools inspector, David
Bell, faced an angry backlash from Muslim leaders last night after claiming
many of their schools failed to promote tolerance of other cultures.
Mr Bell, who is head of Ofsted,
the education standards watchdog, said there was a danger that the growth
in independent faith schools - especially Muslim ones - could undermine
the coherence of British society.
His comments were condemned as "highly
irresponsible" and he was accused of being Islamophobic. Mr Bell said he
was worried that a traditional Islamic education "does not entirely fit"
Muslim children for life in modern Britain.
He chose a lecture on the importance
of teaching citizenship in schools to warn of the dangers of a "significant"
growth in the number of independent faith schools in the UK. There are
now around 300 of the schools in the country - including 100 Muslim, 100
evangelical Christian and 50 Jewish schools.
In his speech, Mr Bell said: "Britain's
diversity has the potential to be one of its greatest strengths. But diverse
does not need to mean completely different and it certainly must not mean
segregated and separate.
"The growth in faith schools needs
to be carefully but sensitively monitored by government to ensure that
pupils at all schools receive an understanding not only of their own faiths
but of other faiths and the wider tenets of British society," Mr Bell added.
"We must not allow our recognition of diversity to become apathy in the
face of any challenge to our coherence as a nation."
Mr Bell acknowledged that parents
had a right to choose how their children were educated, and to pay for
it, but added that "faith should not be blind".
"I worry that many young people
are being educated in faith-based schools with little appreciation of their
wider responsibilities and obligations to British society."
He revealed that his annual state
of the nation report on education standards next month would single out
Muslim schools and warn they must adapt their curriculum to provide pupils
"with a broad general knowledge of public institutions".
Yesterday's speech was condemned
by Muslim leaders who accused Mr Bell of Islamophobia.
Dr Mohamed Mukadam, chairman of
the Association of Muslim Schools and principal of the Leicester Islamic
Academy, said: "I challenge him to come up with evidence that Muslim schools
are not preparing young people for life in British society.
"It's a misconception of Islamic
schools and a further example of Islamophobia. For a person in his position
to make such a generalised comment just beggars belief."
Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general
of the Muslim Council of Britain, added: "We consider it highly irresponsible
to suggest that the growth of Muslim faith schools poses a threat to 'our
coherence as a nation'."
However, Idris Mears, of the Association
of Muslim Schools, said: "I do not think it's unfair of Mr Bell to bring
the matter up. Muslim schools are aware of it. They're putting positive
actions into place."
John Dunford, general secretary
of the Secondary Heads Association, added: "All schools have a responsibility
to educate young people about the world outside their own background."
Speaking after his lecture Mr Bell
said the problem was "less of an issue" with state faith schools - including
Muslim ones - because "there are more formal requirements to meet the national
curriculum".
Under the national curriculum, citizenship
lessons are compulsory. However, Mr Bell said it was the "worst taught"
subject with one in four lessons classified as "unsatisfactory".
FAITH-BASED EDUCATION
The number of faith-based independent
schools has mushroomed over the past few years, according to the education
standards watchdog, Ofsted. Two decades ago there was hardly a single Muslim
school in the country.
The Islamia primary school in Brent,
north-west London, founded by Yusuf Islam the former pop singer Cat Stevens
in 1983, was one of the first to be founded. It became state funded in
1998 after a 15-year battle.
There are now 100 Muslim independent
schools in Britain but it is not only the Muslim faith that has expanded
the number of schools that it runs. There are also 100 schools run by different
groups of evangelical Christians and a further fifty run by various Jewish
communities.
The independent faith schools do
not charge the same level of fees levied by traditional public schools,
such as Eton and Harrow. Many struggle on a hand to mouth existence, with
gifts from the local community, and charge parents around £2,000
a year for their children's education.
The schools are not members of the
Independent Schools Council, which represents the majority of established
independent schools.
They have to apply for registration
from Ofsted and can be refused if it is felt the school does not offer
a sufficiently broad-based curriculum for its pupils.
