Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Ofsted chief, has delayed until next week the publication of reports about the Birmingham schools at the centre of an alleged Islamist plot, as details emerge of Ofsted inspectors praising schools for “speaking out against extremism”.
The tranche of reports is expected to classify six of the schools involved as inadequate due to concerns about student safeguarding, especially regarding the protection of pupils from exposure to extremism.
The six include Park View, Golden Hillock and Nansen schools under the control of the Park View Academy Trust, which is likely to be ejected from its role by the Department for Education.
Ofsted confirmed the delay in the publication of the reports until Tuesday citing the “complexity” of the reports.
In an unusual twist, it has also emerged that Tahir Alam – chair of governors at Park View academy, who is accused of being a plot ringleader in the discredited “Trojan Horse” letter that sparked the investigation – is accredited as an Ofsted inspector, and has carried out inspections of schools while working for companies contracted to Ofsted.
Alam has been listed as working for all three private contractors that provide “additional inspectors” to Ofsted as part of inspection teams. Ofsted has recently announced that it is ending the use of contracted inspectors when its contracts expire next year.
In an interview with the Guardian, Alam said: “I’ve worked in education in education for 17 years. I have worked with school governance organisations, I have been a national leader of governance, I’m an inspector of independent schools. [People] are trying to depict me as some kind of spurious, hidden character – but I have a track record of transforming education, especially in inner-city schools.”
Alam took over as governor of Park View schools, where he was formerly a pupil, 17 years ago. In that time the school’s academic record has improved to make it one of the best performing state schools in the city.