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Growing proportion of private faith schools fail Ofsted inspections

Pupils in a classroom
The latest figures show 49% of private faith schools were judged less than good. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A growing proportion of independent faith schools are being failed by Ofsted because of concerns about leadership and the teaching of British values, according to official statistics.

The schools watchdog said there had been a sharp decline in inspection outcomes for smaller, fee-paying schools, in particular faith schools.

Latest figures show 49% of private faith schools inspected by Ofsted were judged less than good at their most recent inspection and 26% were inadequate.

The details were released as part of Ofsted’s roundup of inspections of non-association independent schools – smaller, fee-paying schools not part of groups affiliated to the Independent Schools Council.

There are just over 1,000 such schools. At the end of August, 68% of those inspected were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection, four percentage points down on last year.

But while independent special schools, which make up 40% of the group, have made progress, the decline in outcomes for other independent schools including faith schools is described as “stark”, with the proportion judged good or outstanding down from 79% in 2014 to 60%.

According to Ofsted, part of the reason for the decline is the introduction of new standards three years ago that focus on leadership and fundamental British values.

Since the Trojan horse affair in Birmingham in 2014, which involved concerns about alleged Islamist influence on a small number of the city’s schools, all schools have been required to teach and reflect British values.

The Ofsted report, published on Thursday, said: “The new standards on fundamental British values look at requirements in relation to written policies on the curriculum, the quality of teaching and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils.

“While numbers are small, a higher proportion of the weaker faith schools are failing on these requirements when compared to those with no faith.”

According to Ofsted figures, 81 out of 139 independent Muslim schools were found to be less than good at their most recent inspection, while 39 were inadequate. One-third of Christian schools were judged less than good, and of 58 Jewish schools, more than half were either “requires improvement” or inadequate.

Another factor contributing to the decline was the fact that Ofsted has taken over the inspection of more faith schools, triggering “a far larger fall in the proportion judged good or better than would otherwise have been expected”, according to the report.

Ofsted is also concerned that failing schools are taking too long to improve and there are particular concerns around safeguarding, which was found to be ineffective in 17% of schools inspected.

Independent special schools are, in contrast, making strong progress, with 78% judged good or outstanding, up from 74% in 2014, while only 9% were judged inadequate compared with 19% of other independent schools.