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Inspectors need new powers to tackle faith schools where teachings 'clash with British values', major Ofsted report to find

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, chair of the Accord Coalition which is against faith schools, says that Ofsted’s findings come as “no surprise” - PA
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, chair of the Accord Coalition which is against faith schools, says that Ofsted’s findings come as “no surprise” - PA

Inspectors need new powers to tackle conservative faith schools which are “spreading beliefs that clash with British values”, a major Ofsted report will say on Wednesday.

An increasing number of ultra-religious schools are teaching children in a way that threatens to undermine principles of tolerance and respect, according to the school inspectorate’s annual report.

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector, will say that laws do not go far enough to combat illegal schools, and that spreading "shared values" will be one of Ofsted's key priorities for the year ahead.

"Current legislation is inadequate to tackle unregistered schools. It limits our powers and allows institutions to exploit loopholes about definitions of education,” the report is expected say.

“The existence of unregistered schools is possible because there is no requirement to register a child as home educated, so there is no record of children who have never been in school.”

Last month, The Daily Telegraph revealed how extremist groups are exploiting a loophole in the law by encouraging parents to pull their children out of mainstream education on the pretence that they will be home-schooled. 

However, in reality the Government has no way of checking what has happened to pupils once they are withdrawn from school since there is no national database of children who are home-educated. Once they are under the radar, children can be easily fed into illegal schools. 

Amanda Spielman
Amanda Spielman

Ofsted found that the proportion of independent schools judged inadequate or required improvement increased this year from 31 per cent to 40 per cent, and a number of these are “highly conservative” Christian, Jewish, or Muslim faith schools.

The annual report is expected to say: “In some of these schools, the premises are unsafe or squalid. The most basic checks are not always in place. Inspectors have also found sexist and sectarian literature in some schools.

“In even more extreme cases, children are being educated illegally in unregistered settings. This means there are no safeguards in place to make sure children are either safe or receiving a decent education.”

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, chair of the Accord Coalition which is against faith schools, said that Ofsted’s findings come as “no surprise”.

“It is inevitable that those faith groups that wish to prevent their pupils from mixing with other children are also at odds with some of the values of wider society,” he said.

“Their schools are deliberately being used to isolate children from social trends, gender equality and sexual ethics that are intrinsic to modern Britain”.

The report will also highlight the plight of underperforming schools which have received “considerable” attention and investment, but interventions have failed to help them improve. 

Many of these schools have higher than average proportions of children with special needs, and white British pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.