Why is Ofsted doing the secularists’ bidding?

“Jewish school removed ‘homosexual’ mentions from GCSE texbook” was the Guardian headline, which was a bit naughty of them, given that the redaction was to all references to sex and sexuality and not just to homosexuality. But it was publicity like that that prompted Ofsted to make a snap inspection of the school earlier this month, an inspection that has gone down extremely badly within the local Haredi community, and prompted the school’s Principal, Rabbi Avroham Pinter, to write a furious letter to Teresa May complaining that Ofsted has become the government arm of secular intolerance:

“It is hugely disappointing that a fringe pressure group can influence so-called independent bodies in this way. Our community has been targeted consistently and our staff and students are being intimidated by the deliberate disregard for cultural sensitivities.”

At break time, I talked to some of the pupils. And what they told me bore this out. The Ofsted inspectors obviously came with a fixed agenda, they wanted to talk to the girls about sex. And those who told me about it were obviously made to feel extremely uncomfortable by the questions. Three girls complained to the Principal and he told them to explain that to the inspectors. They did – but that only made matters worse, and invited further interrogation. They were very upset by the whole process. “This felt like an attack,” one of them said, “because under no circumstances did we want to discuss things that we were brought up our entire lives not to discuss.”

And their parents were furious. “Our daughters came home severely shaken after a day of inspection where inspectors have attempted to force alien concepts onto our children” one parent wrote. “an alien discussion with our girls of their private bodies and of intimate relationships with strangers … serves to undermine our beliefs in every possible way.”

The reactions of the staff were little different. They all agreed that the inspectors were wholly uninterested in the quality of teaching – it was the Jewish values bit they had come to inspect. One inspector peered at the mezuzah on her door. “What’s this?” she questioned. In Deuteronomy, God tells us to write his words on our gates and doorposts, the teacher explained. The Ofsted inspector scribbled extensive notes on her clipboard. “This feels like the KGB” one teacher quipped, semi-seriously. Someone else whispered the word “Gestapo”.

Yes, a bit over the top perhaps. But make no mistake: the fear is real and visceral.

For what we mean by ‘British values’ is at stake here, and whether such values are generous enough to include groups such as the Haredim. In November 2014, the Department of Education published guidance on promoting so-called British values in schools as a part of their anti-terrorism Prevent agenda. All schools have a duty to “actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs”. It is a huge irony that under the rubric of respect and tolerance for those with different beliefs Ofsted is going after religious schools such as Yesoday Hatorah.

The head of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman, when speaking to the Educational Select Committee this month, was questioned on this very point. After discussing the worry that some schools might be a conveyor belt to terrorism, the subject of diversity came up.

“I have a number of orthodox Jewish schools in my constituency, isn’t a British value also valuing diversity?’ asked Ian Mearns, the Labour MP for Gateshead. Spielman replied:

“This is precisely the dilemma of liberalism that’s been discussed… At what point does a group accommodating intolerance undermine tolerance itself? There is a particular difficulty for orthodox Jewish schools and we meet and talk to many faith groups across all faiths.”

This sounds like dangerous mission creep. The idea that the peaceable, keep themselves to themselves Haredi Jewish community are a group “accommodating intolerance” and that thereby they “undermine tolerance itself” is an absolute travesty of the truth. Indeed, the very point about tolerance is that we accept a variety of different viewpoints on life, including those to which we do not ourselves subscribe. And that is precisely the ideological generosity that Ofsted is not affording to the much-abused Haredim. And Ofsted should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

The very existence of the Haredim began as a reaction against liberal and Enlightenment values. Traditionalism was their survival mechanism. So it makes little sense to expect them to subscribe to liberal and enlightenment values now. The question is whether our democracy is capacious enough to welcome them. And I very much hope that it is.

But some in the Haredi community are beginning to doubt this. “Our worry is of history repeating itself,” wrote one parent, after the inspection. Some fears run very deep. “We are an established, small, law-abiding community who contribute hugely to our society, but are being hounded out by those acting in the name of your government” was Rabbi Pinter’s distraught cry to the Prime Minister.

This issue is not just about the Haredim. Ofsted has it in for Muslim schools in much the same way. Indeed, armed with so-called “British values” they are gaining a reputation to have it for all schools of a religious character. And the secularists are delighted that Ofsted is now doing their bidding. “She refuses to be silenced by the bullies, and has pressed on with intervening in schools where religion threatens the education and wellbeing of children,” gushed the National Secular Society website about Amanda Spielman.

Except the Haredim are not out to bully anyone. From what I saw at Yesodet Hatorah, it is Speilman and Ofsted who are behaving like the school bully. For it is Ofsted that has failed to understand the most basic feature of their own values: respect and toleration. Indeed, if British values cannot accommodate a peaceful and law abiding group like the Haredim then these values are little to be proud of.

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Giles Fraser is a journalist, broadcaster and Vicar of St Anne’s, Kew.

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