Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

by Guest Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:45 am

[*]Al-Hijrah School in Birmingham was criticised for segregating pupils

[*]Inspectors said the state-funded school needed to be put in special measures

[*]But, in first case of its kind, the school challenged Ofsted in the High Court, meaning the report is still being withheld from parents a year on from inspection

An Islamic school that tried to suppress its critical Ofsted report can finally be named after a legal challenge by the Daily Mail. Al-Hijrah School in Birmingham was criticised for segregating pupils and keeping books in its library that advocated beating wives. Inspectors said the state-funded school needed to be put in special measures for issues including a breach of equality law.

But, in the first case of its kind, the school challenged Ofsted in the High Court, meaning the report is still being withheld from parents a year on from the inspection. Judges ordered the name of the school be kept secret over fears of a ‘media storm’ – but following a challenge by the Daily Mail’s parent company, Associated Newspapers Limited, the reporting restriction was lifted last night.

Ofsted’s appeal against the school’s High Court challenge, listed in the Court Of Appeal today, has serious implications for the watchdog’s ability to give parents transparent information. Sir Terence Etherton, the Master of the Rolls, ordered that the school could be named to preserve the principle of open justice. He said: ‘We have reached the clear decision on this application that we consider anonymity should be raised so that Associated Newspapers Limited will be able to name the school.’

Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said: ‘This is a victory for open justice. The Daily Mail has worked on behalf of the pupils, the parents and the people of Birmingham, to inform them what is happening. I am grateful to the paper for taking this battle up.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4683528/Islamic-school-tried-gag-Ofsted.html#ixzz4mVF0SU6f
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Unbelievable, so now Judges are helping to censure further problems and are not placing the interest of the children here first.

by Tommy Monk Tue Jul 11, 2017 9:36 pm

The article says the report is still being withheld...

by Guest Thu Jul 13, 2017 6:20 am

Here’s the background:

A state-funded Islamic school in Birmingham unlawfully discriminated against pupils when it separated them by sex from age nine, a court has been told.

The court of appeal case could lead to other schools that practise similar segregation across the country having to make drastic changes to how they operate, or to split into separate single-sex schools.

The schools inspectorate, Ofsted, alleged that segregating pupils within a mixed-sex school was unlawful discrimination as it launched an appeal against a November 2016 judgment, in which the high court found that segregation did not mean either boys or girls were treated unfavourably.

This case raises some thorny issues. Is it discriminatory to segregate the sexes within a single school? It has been argued that the practice is not discriminatory as both sexes are equally restricted. However a letter in yesterday’s Guardian insists that it is:

We recognise the existence of single-sex schools but our concerns are with co-educational faith schools that apply gender segregation throughout the school day. It is as abhorrent as segregating people according to their race or sexuality.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/11/religion-gender-segregation-and-sex-education-in-schools?CMP=share_btn_fb

It might seem odd to accept single-sex schools (as the letter writers seem to) but object so strongly to segregation within a single establishment.

One argument in favour of drawing this distinction might be derived from the rationale lying behind these different schools. All-female schools, in particular, have been popular partly because they are perceived to help girls gain academic confidence. The fact the girls also eat and socialise in a single sex environment is just a by-product, not an end in itself. Within a single establishment, by contrast, it would be easy to teach the sexes separately but still allow them to mix outside classes. However even here there are perhaps reasons for keeping boys and girls apart which don’t necessarily spring from a conservative or religious mindset. Here’s a secular defence of single sex education which touches on the social as well as purely educational alleged advantages.

For me it’s not the segregation itself which is the biggest problem. It’s the combination of gender segregation with evidence of a bigoted ideology at work. This is present in the current case – it is alleged that books in the Al-Hijrah school library promoted blatant discrimination against women:

One said a wife was ‘not allowed to refuse sex to her husband’ and another said ‘women are commanded to obey their husbands and fulfil their domestic duties’.

This indicates that boys and girls may well not be expected to take equal places in society. Is there any evidence to support such a suspicion? Back in 2006 it was noted that older boys had better maths provision than girls. However in 2011 the inspectors observed that girls were doing better than boys in science.

And currently pupils of either sex who choose subjects which go against traditional gender boundaries may be disadvantaged.

All options subjects at key stage 4 are available to both boys and girls. However, occasionally an option subject does not take place for one group or another because there is not enough interest. This can disadvantage one gender. Currently, for example, there is no food technology running for boys in Year 11 this academic year because only a small number wanted to take it, whereas it is running for girls.

Perhaps educationally the disadvantages may be experienced by both sexes – and interestingly, on a national level, Muslim girls seem to be overtaking boys at university. (By contrast the primary school I went to practised internal segregation and the boys studied Latin while the girls learned needlework. Admittedly this was back in the 1970s.) But there may be other ways in which gender segregation in this school, and others like it, has some discriminatory impact. For example the uniform policy for the school reflects a stark gap between the sexes – whereas the boys’ uniform is conventional the girls are required to wear, not just a headscarf, but also a long skirt with trousers underneath. This further amplifies the existing physical separation between boys and girls and reinforces modesty codes which fall disproportionately on women.

I’ve suggested that the specific rationale for any given instance of single sex education/segregation may have an impact on whether you find it acceptable. Parents might send a girl to a single sex school because they are keen for her to focus on education/career goals – or they might be anxious to protect her from contact with boys and hope she’ll be taught more traditional home making skills. For this reason I think that some traditional single sex schools may be just as problematic as ones with internal segregation – if they exist because a particular community thinks the sexes need quite different training for life. Here’s one example, the strict boarding school attended by Aliyah Saleem.

An Islamist girls’ boarding school which taught pupils that men could beat women and gay people should be killed is facing closure after a pupil exposed its sharia-inspired rules.

The problem certainly isn’t confined to Muslim schools. For some ultra-orthodox Jewish girls, prospects are very limited.

Within the Charedi community women are often expected to finish education after secondary school and become a wife and mother. However, while at primary and secondary level, girls are given a broader education than boys whose studies focus more on religion.
Very few students at YHSGS go to university because, Rabbi Pinter said: “there isn’t the environment for Haredi girls to do that”, although some might do Open University courses such as Midwifery while continuing to live at home.

“Our experience is that the better educated girls turn out to be the most successful mothers. For us, that’s the most important role a woman plays.”

So to sum up, it’s the ideology in combination with segregation which is the real problem, I think. If the underlying drivers for gender segregation are regressive, then it makes no particular difference whether the segregation is between schools or within a single school.

http://hurryupharry.org/2017/07/12/sex-segregation-in-schools/

by HoratioTarr Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:43 am

I went to an all girl's school. This kind of segregation was common years ago.

by Guest Thu Jul 13, 2017 10:54 am

HoratioTarr wrote:I went to an all girl's school. This kind of segregation was common years ago.

Not within the school itself where you have both boys and girls.
They are being segregated based on religious grounds and taught that they should be segregated. Which is not helping them adapt to adult life within the UK.

by Tommy Monk Thu Jul 13, 2017 12:26 pm

If that is all the report is about... then why is it still being withheld...!?

I think theres a lot more to it...

by HoratioTarr Thu Jul 13, 2017 12:37 pm

Thorin wrote:
HoratioTarr wrote:I went to an all girl's school. This kind of segregation was common years ago.

Not within the school itself where you have both boys and girls.
They are being segregated based on religious grounds and taught that they should be segregated. Which is not helping them adapt to adult life within the UK.

Why can't they go to a regular school? It's not like religion is forced down your throat. It certainly wasn't in my school which was C of E. And why can't they have special Muslim religious studies within a non Muslim school?

This is the problem I have with people banging on about multiculturalism. Most Muslim kids would be welcomed into a Western school, but it wouldn't happen the other way around.

I don't think schools should teach religion anyway. That's something you should get in the home, if the parents feel so strongly about it.

by Guest Thu Jul 13, 2017 2:16 pm

HoratioTarr wrote:
Thorin wrote:

Not within the school itself where you have both boys and girls.
They are being segregated based on religious grounds and taught that they should be segregated. Which is not helping them adapt to adult life within the UK.

Why can't they go to a regular school? It's not like religion is forced down your throat. It certainly wasn't in my school which was C of E. And why can't they have special Muslim religious studies within a non Muslim school?

This is the problem I have with people banging on about multiculturalism. Most Muslim kids would be welcomed into a Western school, but it wouldn't happen the other way around.

I don't think schools should teach religion anyway. That's something you should get in the home, if the parents feel so strongly about it.

I think all schools should be neutral and secular.
Have no issue with the history of religions being taught.
So agree on many of your points.

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Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Re: Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Re: Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Re: Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Re: Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Re: Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Re: Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Re: Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named

Re: Islamic school that tried to gag Ofsted after report criticised it for segregating pupils and having books advocating domestic abuse in the library is FINALLY named