Telegraph.co.uk http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=UXFT1EVVI4CXNQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/31/nschools131.xml
Muslim schools to conduct own inspections By Graeme Paton, Education Editor Last Updated: 6:58am GMT 31/01/2008 Private Muslim schools have been given the power to police themselves, despite widespread fears over religious segregation, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. # Who inspects schools? # Ministers attacked over rural school closures # Lydbury North PS the 'lifeblood of community' In a controversial move, they have won the right to appoint their own Ofsted-style inspectors. A new independent watchdog has been set up to be more "sensitive'' toward Islamic education. advertisement The decision comes despite concerns some private Muslim schools are already failing to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain. Barry Sheerman, the chairman of the Commons schools select committee, told MPs last month local councils were finding it "difficult to know what is going on in some faith schools - particularly Muslim schools". But religious leaders defended the move, saying the curriculum and religious traditions in faith schools demand specialist knowledge. Under present legislation, most state and private schools are inspected by Ofsted, the Government's standards watchdog. The Association of Muslim Schools and the Christian Schools' Trust applied to the Government to set up a separate inspectorate for a small number of private faith schools. The Daily Telegraph has learned the Department for Children, Schools and Families [DCSF] approved plans for the Bridge Schools' Inspectorate last week, giving it the power to inspect about 60 private Muslim schools and 50 Christian schools. Ofsted will still regularly vet the new inspectorate, but the move has been criticised. Baroness Massey, the Labour peer, said any decision to set up separate inspection bodies would "reinforce differences and divisions" between religious groups. Last night Mr Sheerman described the move as "very worrying". Michael Gove, the shadow children's secretary, said the Tories supported faith schools for parents who want them. "It's important, however, to ensure that we build a society which is cohesive and make a success of diverse Britain." "This is not the first time we have approved an independent inspectorate," said a spokesman for the DCSF. "The new Education and Skills Bill currently passing through Parliament will increase the transparency of the process of approving independent inspectorates. It will ensure that in future no inspectorate is single faith." He said this would help to promote integration.
