mark walters trojan horse

She also said, "It is not just an academy problem, this was happening before we became an academy. [44] He accused Tahir Alam, chairman of the Park View Educational Trust, of "planning this for 15 years" and honing in Birmingham tactics that he had drafted in his 72-page document, published by the Muslim Council of Britain in 2007, on how to subvert schools to fundamentalist Islam. [95], After the reports were published, Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, said that cultural division in Birmingham had been caused by the rhetoric of the government, and "[Birmingham]'s school system is so fragmented it feels at times likes the Balkans". [9] The introduction of the document states that the "purpose is to promote greater understanding of the faith, religious and cultural needs of Muslim pupils and how they can be accommodated within schools. But who wrote it? Some staff at the school expressed fear that neither eating nor drinking amid high temperatures during the 18 hours of daylight in the months of June and July would compromise pupils' health and their ability to learn. The latter piece concluded that in the present system, the schools investigated could have registered themselves as faith schools and been allowed to teach Islamic values with permission from the state. He claimed that girls should be taught cooking and sewing while boys should be taught trades. [115], David Hughes, a trustee at Park View School, claimed that Ofsted's investigation of the school was biased, and dubbed the inspection a "witch hunt". At the same time, The Trojan Horse Affair ultimately tells us more about the two hosts than this central mystery, as they chase leads and question each other, leading up to a He found "very clear evidence" that young people were encouraged to "accept unquestionably a particular hardline strand of Sunni Islam that raises concerns about their vulnerability to radicalisation in the future". Unlike the teachers, the lawyers involved in serious impropriety were not subject to professional misconduct charges despite the cost of the hearings. Children were banned from playing musical instruments and drama lessons were dropped from the schedule. [34] The Guardian and The Independent both stated that the letter is "widely regarded as a fake". International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 10 (1), pp. [122] The Guardian also analysed Michael Gove's book on combatting Islamist terror, Celsius 7/7, pointing out that a chapter is titled "The Trojan Horse". These questions have been left unanswered She has not been held to account. [90] Nasim Awan, a governor at Springfield, said that the "first agenda item" should be to apply for Islamic assemblies at the secular school. Another teacher told the children that were "lucky to be Muslims and not ignorant like Christians and Jews". Another school investigated, Alston Primary, was already in special measures. [124], In January 2022, a new podcast by The New York Times, The Trojan Horse Affair, cast many doubts on the multiple investigations and the version of events that emerged. [8], Ofsted found that the governing body interfered with the running of Saltley School and undermined the work of its senior leaders. The headteacher and deputy headteacher were subsequently found guilty at an NCTL hearing of falsifying SATS tests. The report stated the messages evidenced that the group had "either promoted, or failed to challenge, views that are grossly intolerant of beliefs and practices other than their own". [91] Another participant in the discussion said that "JEWS" (emphasis in original) were making websites with false information on the Quran, while Abdul Malik, Deputy Head of Golden Hillock in Bradford wrote "Al-Islam will prevail over all other ways of life. [110][111], The National Union of Teachers (NUT) demanded a full review of academies after the letter was revealed, expressing that political and religious groups had exploited the status at thousands of schools to indoctrinate children. [6], Tahir Alam, former chairman of the Park View Educational Trust which ran three schools in Birmingham, was alleged to have written a 72-page document for the Muslim Council of Britain in 2007 detailing a blueprint for the "Islamisation" of secular state schools, a claim that has been widely debunked. [126], The headteacher of Oldknow Academy, Bhupinder Kondal, handed in her notice in January2014. [62] The deputy head of Nansen Primary School, Razwan Faraz, leads a group called the "Educational Activists" which he says introduces an "Islamising agenda" in Birmingham state schools. Book Sport Policy and Politics in an Era of Austerity. [62], Forced segregation of the genders was observed in some classes at Golden Hillock and was mandated in some departmental policy documents. "[92], The report concluded that based on the examination of emails and correspondence: "There is incontrovertible evidence that both senior officials and elected members of Birmingham council were aware of activities that bear a striking resemblance to those described in the Trojan horse letter many months before it surfaced. The inspection said that "too little is done to keep students safe from the risks associated with extremist views". In a discussion on 5 February 2014, a teacher at Oldknow and governor at Small Heath School, revealed that the group's favoured candidate had become the head teacher at Small Heath. ", The government's Department for Education initially responded to the scandal by banning Alam and 14 other teachers from the teaching profession for life in 2015. Faraz replied by saying that the new head "has to establish herself with minimum controversy for first six months", also referring to starting an eventual "Islamising agenda", but at the same time ensuring that the new head does not become a "coconut" in the process. With the apparent agreement of the Chair of the Panel, the decisions were amended prior to publication so as to state that the allegations were "in no way concerned with violent extremism". However, the report interviewed none of the teachers or governors against whom allegations were made with the single exception of Tahir Alam. He said that the efforts to instil fundamentalist practices into Birmingham classrooms were based on a "warped and abusive view of the religion". What has happened has brought the integrity of the process into disrepute". [106], Salma Yaqoob, a former Birmingham City Councillor and prominent Muslim spokesperson, began a group named "Hands Off Birmingham Schools" in the aftermath of the inspections, saying that they were influenced by "a climate of political and media hysteria". [126], Akmal said that jailing gay people and adulterers was a "moral position to hold" and that they should be exiled from the community. [58], The Education Funding Agency (EFA) found that the school lacked a balanced and broad curriculum and saw several subjects marginalised. [citation needed], An investigation ordered by the government found a "sustained, co-ordinated agenda to impose segregationist attitudes and practices of a hardline, politicised strain of Sunni Islam" in several Birmingham schools. [4], The investigation obtained 3,000 messages, spanning 130 pages of transcripts, of a private WhatsApp discussion between a group of teachers at Park View School called the Park View Brotherhood. [123] The Guardian also revealed that West Midlands Police was investigating whether the alleged plot was a hoax concocted to support one of the schools named in the plot, Adderley primary school, in an industrial dispute. The letter was leaked to the press in March 2014. He said that "protecting our children" was "one of the first duties of government" and convened an emergency meeting of the Extremism Taskforce and a ministerial meeting to discuss the affair. Youre otherwise a regular Joe, you just go and pray on occasions. [70], At the tribunal held in October and November 2015, Mr Saini was accused of advising a teacher who had been arrested for having extreme pornography to throw his mobile phone into the canal to make sure there was no problem. [43], Two anonymous members of staff at Park View School told BBC Radio 4 that school assemblies had praised Anwar al-Awlaki. He criticised the approaches to the story by the BBC[120] and The Guardian, which he claimed were unduly biased in favour of the schools. [12], On 14 April, the City Council confirmed that it had received over 200 reports from parents and staff at 25 schools in Birmingham. [71], As of September 2015, Golden Hillock School was rebranded Ark Boulton Academy after being taken over by the Ark Academy Chain. Council leader Sir Albert Bore stated that his council had spoken to authorities in Bradford and Manchester, and said that there are "certainly issues in Bradford which have similarities with the issues being spoken about in Birmingham". He said that "the Trojan Horse in east London was a political one rather than an educational one" and spoke of racial politics taking hold. Mark was definitely the author. It's co-hosted by Brian Reed, a veteran producer of This American Life [30] In it, responsibility was claimed for installing a new headteacher at four schools in Birmingham, and it highlighted 12 others in the city which would be easy targets due to large Muslim attendance and poor inspection reports. [4], The investigation found that at Anderton Park Primary School, after a white child joined the school, a Muslim parent instructed staff: "get a white chair and white desk and put the white kid in a white corner with a white teacher and keep him away from the others. WebThe Trojan Horse Affair raises a serious question that requires an answer. The findings were quashed on grounds of serious procedural irregularities. [3] It found that a number of governors and senior teachers had been promoting a form of Islamism or Salafism. [85] The governors of the school were sacked in April because of inappropriate interference in the running of the school. It said evidence pointed to a group of "British male governors and teachers, predominantly of Pakistani heritage". There are several things that a trojan can do, and one of its important features is, it remains in the users system secretly and does not let them find it. [24] In the wake of the findings, Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, announced that all schools in the country will have to promote British values of tolerance and fairness and said that teachers will be banned from the profession if they allow extremists into schools. mark walters trojan horse. [105], The Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Jim Fitzpatrick, warned of a 'Trojan Horse'-style Islamist plot to infiltrate councils in London. In 2012, head teacher Chris Robinson resigned, having felt that her reputation, integrity and leadership were being questioned by governors. [23], Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the Trojan Horse plot was driven by the same Islamic extremism as that of Boko Haram, the Nigerian terrorist group. Share. Three schools were commended. [2], "Operation Trojan Horse" redirects here. [45], In May 2014, the BBC reported that Tim Boyes, the former headteacher of Queensbridge School, had written anonymously to Birmingham City Council in 2010 to try to expose Operation Trojan Horse,[46] and in June a former prospective school governor said that he had informed authorities of the conspiracy in 2008. This affected the teaching of English, Art, Religious Education and Personal, Social and Health Education. The name of the Trojan Horse is taken from a classical story of the Trojan War. It tries to deceive the user to load and execute the files on the device. [99], Harriet Harman, the shadow Culture Secretary, urged the Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, to protect music from being dropped from school curriculums after learning this had taken place at one of the investigated schools. Pages 21. eBook ISBN 9780429057625. [29] Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, said that "wider, more comprehensive action" was needed and appointed Peter Clarke, a former senior Metropolitan Police officer and ex-head of the Counter Terrorism Command. He announced proposals to send Ofsted to any s [63], A teacher from Park View School was reported to the police after he broke into a female pupil's mobile telephone to prove she was having a "forbidden" relationship with a boy. It also did not report any interviews with members of Birmingham Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) responsible for the agreed curriculum on religious education taught in local authority schools in Birmingham, and also responsible for approving deterninations of daily acts of collective worship for other than Christian worship. Initially, the failure to disclose the transcripts was explained as a "departmental misunderstanding", albeit one, according to the Panel, where, "even on that basis such failure was simply unacceptable". The Trojan Horse scandal, also known as "Operation Trojan Horse" or the Trojan Horse affair, involves claims of an alleged conspiracy[1][2] that there was an organised attempt to introduce an "Islamist" or "Salafist" ethos into several schools in Birmingham, England. [98] New clauses were added into funding agreements for academies, stating that the Secretary for Education could close schools whose governors do not comply with "fundamental British values". The two inquiries shared evidence, with the Kershaw inquiry deferring matters of extremism to the Clarke inquiry. "[4] [1], Year 11 pupils about to sit their GCSEs at the school were instructed to partake in an Islamic fast, taking neither food nor drink, to place them in the right "spiritual frame of mind" for the exams. Others were challenged in court before the case against the senior teachers was discontinued. Government officials and policy advisers, as well as journalists previously involved in the case, rushed to announce that the cases had collapsed on a 'technicality'. ", "Trojan Horse row Q&A: What is the 'Muslim plot' all about and why is it so important? [113] Pieces in The Guardian included criticism of the academy system,[121] and demands that all state schools be made secular. None of those involved in the Trojan horse affair were criminals in the conventional sense of the word. "This is a reminder that this is a serious issue and something that is not going to be solved overnight. [18] Birmingham City Council commissioned Ian Kershaw of Northern Education Trust in Newcastle to review the evidence. The reporter recorded a series of meetings with him which the Mirror alleged exposed Akmal as a "sexist, racist bigot". [116] Tahir Alam, a governor at Park View School since 1997, and former chair of the education committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that the accusations had been "motivated by anti-Muslim, anti-Islam sentiment". [117], Helena Rosewell, a music teacher at Park View for 15 years, stated that her "blood [was] boiling" when investigations started at the school. Mark Walters has been removed from his current school's website very recently. [59][7] The school staff defended the measures stating that the loudspeakers were put up to make announcements in general, not only the Islamic prayer call and that every school in Britain is legally required to provide a collective act of worship, which is usually Christian in nature but in their case was Islamic for which they applied for and received permission. [100], In a letter to Park View Trust chairman Tahir Alam, Education Minister Lord Nash criticised its running of the schools, saying he was "deeply mindful of the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations". The few pupils that elected to study a Christianity unit as part of the Religious Studies GCSE course had to "teach themselves", because the teacher focused on Islamic studies which the majority were studying. [29] The letter described pressure being put on the head teacher at Regents Park school, a school judged to be outstanding and "planting the seed of her cheating". [33], The letter also encouraged getting academy status for successfully infiltrated schools, so as to have a curriculum independent of the local education authority. This had been initiated by Sir Tim Brighouse, who had been Chief Education Officer in Birmingham between 1993 and 2002, and was highly critical of the 2014 Ofsted reports and the subsequent inquiries. From Serial Productions and The New York Times, The Trojan Horse [20] Ian Kershaw, Head of Northern Education Trust in Newcastle, was named as its full-time special adviser.[52]. Serial Productions recently released its latest investigative podcast series, "The Trojan Horse Affair." [68][69] Two other senior teachers were also suspended. Andrew Gilligan of The Daily Telegraph wrote extensively on the episode. As a result the content may not reflect current Government policy and may make reference to the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) which has now been replaced by the Department for Education (DFE). ^ Cook, Chris (18 July 2014). " 'Trojan Horse' report an unhelpful epitaph for Michael Gove". The drawn out nature of the cases meant that there were no journalists present to report the detailed rebuttal of claims indicated above, for example of banning Christmas celebrations, or teacher handouts promoting the obligations on wives to consent to sex with their husbands. The previous trustees of the academy having been replaced, she withdrew her resignation and returned to her post on 19August 2014. Look at how [the] Muslim population is increasing in the UK. Neither report addressed this, nor did they report any interviews with those officials and the minutes of the meetings that took place among senior leaders at the various schools. richard belding leave it to beaver songs about rebelling against parents makai polk scouting report. Agent: Mark Walters - (772)-201-5650. Click here to A Trojan Horse (Trojan) is a type of malware that disguises itself as legitimate code or software. [101] Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP for Perry Barr, said that the City Council may have known of previous plots, but not acted due to fears of being seen as anti-Islamic. The first opportunity to put their case came when professional misconduct cases were brought against them by the National College of Teaching and Learning (an independent agency of the Department for Education, now replaced by the Teaching Regulation Agency) in October 2015 and May 2017 when the case against the senior teachers collapsed because of "serious improprieties" by the legal team acting for the NCTL. About. He claims he was pressured to ban sex education and the teaching of non-Muslim religions, and was dismissed in 2003 after he told prospective teachers to question the governors. [58], The government ordered an inspection of the Olive Tree school following comments by its head, Abdul Qadeer Baksh, that in an ideal Islamic state, homosexuality would be punishable by death. Richard Kerbaj and Sian Griffiths, writing in The Sunday Times, reported that over 100 teachers would be charged with professional misconduct. [107], In June 2014, there was a highly public argument between the Home Office and Department for Education ministers about the responsibility for the alleged extremism. [19], At Nansen School, Islamic religious assemblies were introduced and Christmas and Diwali celebrations were cancelled. Akmal criticised female politicians, saying: "She has to sacrifice her family, she has to sacrifice her children, she has to sacrifice her husband, all in the name of equality." He denied all allegations against him.[27]. [19], Kershaw revealed to MPs at the Commons select committee on education in September 2014 that at one school "a film about violent extremism" was shown to the children. [9] Its intentions are clearly set out in the introduction where it states "its purpose is to promote greater understanding of the faith, religious and cultural needs of Muslim pupils and how they can be accommodated within schools. Of 21 schools investigated by Ofsted, and 14 schools investigated by the Clarke Report, charges were brought against teachers at just 4 schools. The Trojan Horse was a clever idea that turned the tide of the war in favor of the Greeks. [58] An extended Islamic assembly for its Year 10 and 11 pupils was arranged with Sheikh Shady al-Suleiman, an extremist preacher who has called on God to "destroy the enemies of Islam", "give victory to all the Mujahideen all over the world" and to "prepare us for the jihad". [58], The EFA inspection found a classroom culture which was not welcoming to non-Muslim pupils. It is designed to steal, damage, or do some harmful actions on the computer. Now the audio game-changer has made a divisive UK story the focus of a new eight-part series, its first overseas outing. ", Peter Clarke, former counterterrorism chief, conducted the investigation which gathered and examined 2,000 documents and generated 2,000 pages of interview transcripts from 50 witnesses, including former headteachers, teachers, council staff and school governors. an "issue of education management", or appeasement. [5] The inspections found that head teachers have been "marginalised or forced out of their jobs". The pupils were told at an assembly not to send Christmas cards and that Mary was not the mother of Jesus. [35][36] However, both the Kershaw Report and the Clarke Report organised their inquiries in terms of the 5-step plan described in the letter and following the publication of their reports, Birmingham City's education commissioner Sir Mike Tomlinson stated his belief that what the letter described was happening "without a shadow of doubt". Creationism was taught as fact in school assemblies and science lessons at both Park View and Golden Hillock. Information and Guidance for Schools and is available as an appendix to the Kershaw Report. [2], Russell Hobby, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers said the organisation could not fully endorse the report. [53] Birmingham City Council was already under investigation by Sir Bob Kerslake over problems of governance associated with financial management, looked after children, waste services and issues of equal pay for work of equal value. He said that the overview report on the matter could trigger "some kind of bloody firestorm" and "may well lead to significant structural proposals" for the city council. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Chief Inspector at Ofsted, had commented at a national conference that "All schools should be like this and there's no reason why they shouldn't be. The Kershaw and Clarke Reports provided no data on school performance in Birmingham or of the schools improvement programme which had shaken up schools following Sir Tim Brighouse's appointment. [29] The letter was alleged to have been written from Birmingham and sent to a contact in Bradford to expand the operation into that city. Texts and images of the girl with a boy, a fellow Year 11 pupil at Park View, were used to justify the girl's suspension weeks before her GCSE exams. [61], Subjects such as Personal, Social and Health Education, Biology and Sex and Relationships Education were bowdlerised to conform with a conservative Islamic teaching. The Muslim Council of Britain also described the investigation as a 'witch hunt'. [53], In July 2014, after the reports had been published, Bore apologised and admitted that the council had ignored Operation Trojan Horse due to "fear of being accused of racism". Instead, the report concluded, the council was focused on community cohesion. Edition 1st Edition. [19] It found evidence that the "five steps" to destabilise a school's leadership, as outlined in the original Trojan Horse letter, were "present in a large number of the schools considered part of the investigation". Trojan Horsewalkers' Team | Conditioning horses since 1961 Products Lead Walkers Free Flow Exerciser Rebuilt Kit FAQ Price Quote About Us Contact Us 855-265-4222 Products Lead [3][19] The report found that senior council officials and elected members were apparently aware of these issues, but dealt with them on a case-by-case basis rather than making "any serious attempt to see if there was a pattern", though it is not clear whether this was due to "community cohesion", A detailed discussion of the evidence presented in the NCTL case is provided in chapter 9 of John Holmwood and Therese O'Toole's book on the Trojan Horse affair. [7][8] This document provided guidance about the religious needs and practices of Muslim parents and pupils that would facilitate their integration into schools. First Published 2019. There was evidence from officials at the Department for Education responsible for managing the incorporation of schools into PVET, as well as initiating a memorandum of agreement between PVET and Oldknow (paragraph 123). [85] It was alleged by teachers that the governors sought to hire the Trojan Horse "ringleader" Tahir Alam and model the school on his Park View School in Birmingham. He has performed over 60 operatic roles in the standard Mark Walters, who testified that he saw Rizvana Darr open the teaching assistants' resignation letters, seems Book review by Rick Howard Like Zero Day, another Mark Russinovich novel I recently reviewed for the Cybersecurity Canon, Trojan Horse is a book Id recommend for casual readers.Cybersecurity professionals wont learn anything new here, but all readers might enjoy wallowing around in a Tom Clancy-esque story This pre-dated by approximately .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}3+12 months the date on which the witness statements were signed and finalised". [60], It was alleged that the sexes were segregated in the classrooms and boys and girls suspected of being too friendly towards each other were disciplined. The Panel had been ready to announce its decision in the case on 23 December 2016, but an urgent application for disclosure, relating, in part, to transcripts associated with the Clarke Report, was made by defence lawyers on 24 November 2016. Speaking after withdrawing her resignation, Ms.Kondal said: "The pressures outlined in the Trojan Horse letter are very real and it mustn't be allowed to happen again. [23] The government terminated its funding arrangement with three of the schools. Students were also told that it is un-Islamic to have a pet dog. The show also found evidence of unregistered Haredi Jewish schools in London, which an ex-pupil claimed were not teaching a balanced curriculum. [60], Golden Hillock School in Sparkhill, Birmingham, was put under special measures by Ofsted on 5 June 2014, after being rated "inadequate" in all categories. [47], Reverend John Ray, OBE, and ex-head teacher of a school in Pakistan, resigned as a governor of Golden Hillock School after 25 years. It also included evidence from then secretary to Birmingham SACRE, given to the Clarke inquiry but not reported by him, which "conflicts with the evidence of NCTL witnesses who had been saying that it was wrong for collective worship to be solely about Islam when a school had a determination but [the secretary] who had been with SACRE for 9 years, said it was acceptable" (paragraph 125). The hearings were expected to be concluded quickly, but continued through until May 2017. No charges of extremism were put forward, only charges associated with 'undue religious influence'. Teachers reported unfair treatment because of their gender or religious beliefs. The choice of modern language teaching had been restricted to the study of Arabic or Urdu at several schools. Under the academy schools programme, it could only be done with the active involvement of officials in the local authority (including over the transfer of assets to the new trust) and at the Department for Education and it would require an academically successful school to be the sponsor of 'failing' schools. Imprint Routledge. [103] When the reports were published, Mahmood said that scepticism of the original letter could be "put in the bin", but some people still had "their heads buried in the sand". [5][15][16] Golden Hillock School, Nansen Primary School, Park View School all run by the Park View Educational Trust Oldknow Academy and Saltley School were placed in special measures after inspectors found systemic failings including the schools having failed to take adequate steps to safeguard pupils against extremism. It interviewed Mohammed Zabar, a Muslim parent who wrote to the Prime Minister in December 2013 about the lack of cultural balance in the curriculum at his daughter's school, Oldknow. Opera News describes veteran baritone Mark Walters as a force to be reckoned with as Don Carlo in La forza del destino. The case against the senior leaders was discontinued, as were the remaining two cases in July 2017. Girls were taught they could not refuse sex with their husbands, and would be "punished" by angels "from dusk to dawn" if they did.

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