mark walters trojan horse
Click here to navigate to parent product. [7] Mahmood told Channel 4 that he did not believe that the investigation was Islamophobic, stating "Over 200 people complaining to the local authority about what's gone on and you can't really claim that it's a witch-hunt". International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 10 (1), pp. The annual sports event for boys and girls was scheduled in different days. This showed Birmingham to be performing badly on most indicators, but outperforming other cities and the national average for its school results and the proportion of schools graded outstanding. Staff wishing to discuss LGBT matters were lambasted by governors. [5][80] Inspectors found that no humanities, arts or music was taught in Year 6 and only "limited" teaching of these subjects in Year 5. WebThe Trojan Horse Affair raises a serious question that requires an answer. [124], In January 2022, a new podcast by The New York Times, The Trojan Horse Affair, cast many doubts on the multiple investigations and the version of events that emerged. This page was last edited on 24 December 2022, at 23:24. [103], A play about the Trojan Horse affair and the injustices at its heart by LUNG Theatre (Helen Monks, co-writer; Matt Woodhead, co-writer and director) won the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2018 and began a national tour in October 2019. "[127] Shabina Bano, chair of the Oldknow Academy Parents' Association, said parents would welcome Ms.Kondal back because they wanted, stability as soon as possible At the same time we want to know why she deserted parents. [85] The governors of the school were sacked in April because of inappropriate interference in the running of the school. The governors have been made to resign Has she come back because she wants to take the school forward or is she fulfilling a personal vendetta?[127]. [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". He denied all allegations against him.[27]. [29] The letter was alleged to have been written from Birmingham and sent to a contact in Bradford to expand the operation into that city. The educational advisers to the Clarke Report did not set out the guidelines applying to religious education and collective worship in schools and no information was provided about the locally agreed SACRE curriculum which continued to be taught in the schools. [21], The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said that "protecting our children [was] one of the first duties of government" and convened an emergency meeting of the Extremism Taskforce and a ministerial meeting to discuss the affair. Imprint Routledge. [62] A former staff member said that one teacher had handed out a worksheet stating that women "must obey their husbands", and told his class that wives were forbidden from refusing their husbands sex. [3] It found that a number of governors and senior teachers had been promoting a form of Islamism or Salafism. A sixth school was labelled inadequate for its poor educational standards and twelve schools were found needing of improvements. [1][11] The allegations against the teachers were set out in the press and in the Kershaw and Clarke Reports. 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". Students were also told that it is un-Islamic to have a pet dog. 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". Skilled Account Development Executive in areas of Insurances and Financial 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". Across eight episodes, journalists Brian Reed and Hamza Syed sought to discover the author of the anonymous letter that triggered the scandal. It also provides useful information and guidance and features of good practice in meeting those needs. [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. "[49], In Bradford, teachers reported instances of governors imposing an Islamic ethos. 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. Creationism was taught as fact in school assemblies and science lessons at both Park View and Golden Hillock. Books available to the children included one which advocated parents hitting children if they did not pray by the age of 10 and another which praised individuals who "loved death more than life in their pursuit of righteous and true religion". They built a wooden horse, which they left outside the city. It also did not report any interviews with members of Birmingham Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) responsible for the agreed curriculum on religious education taught in local authority schools in Birmingham, and also responsible for approving deterninations of daily acts of collective worship for other than Christian worship. It described a "madrassa curriculum" and reported that "posters were written in Quranic Arabic in most of the classrooms visited. [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". 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. Another teacher told the children that were "lucky to be Muslims and not ignorant like Christians and Jews". [7][8] This document provided guidance about the religious needs and practices of Muslim parents and pupils that would facilitate their integration into schools. A new podcast produced by Serial Productions and co-hosted by Hamza Syed and Brian Reed has shone a light on the sordid Trojan Horse Affair. [117], Helena Rosewell, a music teacher at Park View for 15 years, stated that her "blood [was] boiling" when investigations started at the school. The Department for Education inspection found the seating arrangements "often with boys sitting towards the front of the class and girls at the back or around the sides". [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. Posters were found in the classrooms encouraging children to begin lessons with a Muslim prayer, one saying: "If you do not pray, you are worse than a kafir", and staff reported that loudspeakers were set up in the school to broadcast a call to prayer. Look at how [the] Muslim population is increasing in the UK. 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". [25], A number of governors and the Muslim Council of Britain dubbed the reaction of authorities to the plot a "witch-hunt". The headteacher and deputy headteacher were subsequently found guilty at an NCTL hearing of falsifying SATS tests. 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". [51], Ofsted investigated in 21 schools in Birmingham in March 2014. "This is a reminder that this is a serious issue and something that is not going to be solved overnight. Ms.Kondal alleged she had been the victim of undue and unlawful pressure to resign her position by both parents and governors. Girls were taught they could not refuse sex with their husbands, and would be "punished" by angels "from dusk to dawn" if they did. [78][80] Christmas events were cancelled and raffles and tombolas were banned at a recent school fete because they were considered un-Islamic. This was after the government had cited the Trojan Horse affair as justification for its new plans to counter extremism.[130]. 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. Mark was definitely the author. [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. At the same time, The Trojan Horse Affair ultimately tells us more about the two hosts than this central mystery, as they chase leads and question each other, leading up to a [68][69] Two other senior teachers were also suspended. This led the Panel to conclude that the matter had not been a misunderstanding, but that the transcripts were "deliberately withheld from disclosure". The hearings were expected to be concluded quickly, but continued through until May 2017. However, she admitted that senior staff had warned her not to let pupils dance to pop or Bollywood music. [60], Golden Hillock School in Sparkhill, Birmingham, was put under special measures by Ofsted on 5 June 2014, after being rated "inadequate" in all categories. [42] The general secretary of the headteachers' union, Russell Hobby, said the union has found "concerted efforts" by hardliners to infiltrate Birmingham schools, and that it was working with 30 of its members in 12 schools and had "serious concerns" about some of them. A Trojan Horse (Trojan) is a type of malware that disguises itself as legitimate code or software. 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. "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. WebThe Trojan Horse is one of historys most famous tricks. [23], Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the Trojan Horse plot was driven by the same Islamic extremism as that of Boko Haram, the Nigerian terrorist group. Children were urged to join in anti-Christian chants. [99], Governors resigned from Saltley School in protest after the Ofsted findings were released, stating that they doubted the inspectors' impartiality. The educational advisers to the Clarke Report did not set out the guidelines applying to religious education and collective worship in schools and no information was provided about the locally agreed SACRE curriculum which continued to be taught in the schools. At the heart of the affair He said the government would be terminating its funding arrangement with three of the schools. [93] The report said that the extremism went unchallenged as the council prioritised community cohesion over "doing what is right". [20] After the Trojan Horse affair, this[clarification needed] was replaced by a new duty to promote "fundamental British values". [19], At Nansen School, Islamic religious assemblies were introduced and Christmas and Diwali celebrations were cancelled. [9] Its intentions are clearly set out in the introduction where it states "its purpose is to promote greater understanding of the faith, religious and cultural needs of Muslim pupils and how they can be accommodated within schools. [113] Pieces in The Guardian included criticism of the academy system,[121] and demands that all state schools be made secular. Michael and Ruth Haephrati were well-educated people with For example, the co-head of the security and extremism unit at Policy Exchange (the conservative think tank that had advised Michael Gove's schools programme), Hannah Stuart, and its head of education, John David Blake, proposed that, "non-disclosure of anonymous witness statements from the Clarke inquiry was described as an 'abuse of process', and that is deeply unfortunate, but this falls short of an exoneration. He has performed over 60 operatic roles in the standard [42] Senior Department for Education sources have also been reported as claiming that coordinated attempts to undermine and supplant head teachers have occurred in Bradford, Manchester, and the London boroughs of Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets. [2], The leaked letter on the alleged plot was reported by media including the BBC on 7 March 2014. [32], In July 2014, Channel 4's investigative programme Dispatches aired an episode titled "No Clapping in Class" on the issue of faith schools. It also provides useful information and guidance and features of good practice in meeting those needs. It tries to deceive the user to load and execute the files on the device. [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". [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. 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". Share. The art curriculum was altered to "remove full faces or immodest images, such as paintings by Gustav Klimt". 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." 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. [79] For three years running non-Muslim pupils and staff were excluded from these trips. 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". [135][136] No mention was made of the fact that allegations of extremism had not been any part of the charges against teachers. The Truth about the Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair (2017). 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. 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). [82], Pupils had limited knowledge of any religion apart from Islam. 163-183. There are several things that a trojan can do, and one of its important features is, it remains in the users system secretly and does not let them find it. Park View was more compliant than would be the case for other schools. He said that the "colonial blood" within white people was "very difficult to get rid of that very quickly", as British people "still think they rule half the world". They say that the letter had disproportionate emphasis on events at Adderley Primary School and the letter's timing proved a boon to Adderley's head teacher, Rizwana Darr, in Adderley's contemporaneous employment dispute immediately after an internal audit report had referred the dispute at Adderley to the police, specifically recommending Darr be investigated. It effectively ended the war, demonstrating the ingenuity of the Greeks. [87], The report outlined instances of Islamism or Salafism found in the schools. The BBC reported on gender segregation at a state secondary school, Carlton Bolling College, during trips and after-school workshops, as well as boys-only school trips. [110][111], The National Union of Teachers (NUT) demanded a full review of academies after the letter was revealed, expressing that political and religious groups had exploited the status at thousands of schools to indoctrinate children. ", It said that the council had been aware of the extremist activities as early as the end of 2012, and that discussions had taken place between officials as early as July 2013, half a year before the emergence of the Trojan Horse letter. [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. [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. [14], Ofsted inspections were undertaken into 21 schools in Birmingham, with the Education Funding Agency (responsible for academy schools) also investigating Park View Education Trust and Oldknow Academy. [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". 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. [22] Pupils and staff stayed in luxury five-star hotels. Pages 21. eBook ISBN 9780429057625. One EFA inspector went on to become educational adviser to Peter Clarke. Responsibility for determinations for academy schools passed to the Department for Education, but they put in place no measures for renewing determinations. Teachers reported unfair treatment because of their gender or religious beliefs. [4] Governors also restricted teaching topics which were part of the Department for Education's Prevent strategy, such as forced marriage and female genital mutilation. WebIn Brief. Case hearings in July and August 2015 took place to establish the nature of the charges to be put and evidence to be submitted (in the case of the senior teachers at PVET, the evidence file expanded from around 1,000 pages to 6,000 pages between the two meetings). [8], Ofsted found that the governing body interfered with the running of Saltley School and undermined the work of its senior leaders. "[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. [8] In school assemblies, former staff alleged that a senior teacher frequently praised Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda recruiter that had been involved with at least three major terror attacks, and referred to non-Muslims as "kuffar", an insulting term for "infidel". In 2017, the academic scholars Therese O'Toole and John Holmwood, who served as an expert witness in the professional misconduct cases, described the Trojan Horse affair as a "false narrative" spread by a hostile British press which led to "a serious miscarriage of justice" against the teachers, drawing comparisons to the Hillsborough affair. Triggered the scandal episodes, journalists Brian Reed and Hamza Syed sought to discover the author of the.... 1 ] [ 11 ] the governors of the Greeks for its educational! Is one of historys most famous tricks or religious beliefs, journalists Brian Reed and Syed... Art curriculum was altered to `` remove full faces or immodest images, as... 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