Political correctness is stopping the Department for Education from intervening in schools that discriminate against pupils or are illegal, Sir Michael Wilshaw has said.
The former Ofsted chief inspector’s claims come after Ofsted won a High Court case that supported its view that segregating boys and girls at mixed-sex schools amounts to unlawful discrimination.
On Friday, Ofsted published its inspection report about the Al Hijrah school in Birmingham, which was at the centre of the case.
It said that pupils had “easy access” to books in the school library containing “derogatory views about, and incited violence towards, women.”
The inspectors said that those responsible for running the school “have failed to keep pupils safe from extreme views that undermine fundamental British values” and “failed to have due regard to the need to achieve equality of opportunity”.
Sir Michael told the Sunday Times: “My concern is that the DfE should not have allowed all this to happen. It has become a politically correct department although Ofsted has raised so many concerns, including about the proliferation of illegal schools. [Tes Global] Read more
