Understanding Britishness; securitising schooling

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

1. The “Trojan Horse” scandal in 2014 relates to a letter received by Birmingham City Council detailing the supposed take-over of Birmingham schools by individuals with an alleged strict Islamist ideology. The letter, which claimed there was a five-stage strategy to ousting appointed individuals for new advocates of an Islamic agenda, sparked investigations from the Department for Education, The Home Office and the media resulting in emergency inspections from Ofsted and subsequent downgrading of institutions. Official reports concluded that whilst there was no evidence that children were being radicalised, there were conditions in which extremist views may go unchallenged. It is argued the anti-extremism/radicalisation agenda was mandatorily embedded into schools as a result. See “Countering Extremism in British Schools? The Truth About the Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair” by John Holmwood and Therese O’Toole, Policy Press, 2018, pp. 288, ISBN 978–1-4473–4413-1; and “Trojan Horse: the real story behind the fake ‘Islamic Plot’ to take over schools” by Samira Shackle, The Guardian, 2017, available online at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/01/trojan-horse-the-real-story-behind-the-fake-islamic-plot-to-take-over-schools.