An increasing number of conservative faith schools are deliberately flouting British values and seek to isolate young people from the mainstream, Ofsted warned today in a damning report.
Some religious schools in both the state and independent sectors are spreading discriminatory beliefs that clash with British values. In extreme cases illegal “schools” are being created to avoid teaching the fundamental values of democracy, mutual tolerance and respect.
Launching her first annual report as Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman said inspectors have found texts in faith schools that encourage domestic violence and the subjugation of women, and schools where there is a “flat refusal” to acknowledge lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
She said: “When I see books in schools entitled Women Who Deserve To Go To Hell, children being educated in dank, squalid conditions, children being taught solely religious texts at the expense of learning basic English and mathematics, I cannot let it be ignored.
“We have a proud tradition in this country of respecting religious freedom. But there are occasions when multiculturalism can and does comes into tension with the expectation that students should be prepared for life in modern Britain.”
Her annual report, published today, said that one of the functions of education is to spread the values and culture that bind us as a society.
But it warned: “However, there are also those who seek to isolate young people from the mainstream, do not prepare them for life in Britain, or, worse, actively undermine fundamental British values.
“Within state education there are schools spreading beliefs that are widely shared within the community that the school serves but that clash with British values or equalities law.”
It also said some faith “schools” are operating illegally by deliberately failing to register as schools, so there is no record of the children there and the “school” does not have to meet regulations.
The report said: “Tensions between belief systems and British values create a motivation for some communities to try avoiding the educational and safeguarding standards expected of schools. This matters because the British values of democracy, tolerance, individual liberty, mutual respect and the rule of law are the principles that keep society free from the radical and extreme views that can often lead to violence.”
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