NAHT says Islamic groups seeking 'dominant influence' in Birmingham as Ofsted sends inspectors to three more schools

The National Association of Head Teachers says it has serious concerns over schools at the centre of the alleged Islamic plot in Birmingham, with the union's general secretary warning that Islamic groups wanted "a dominant influence" over schools in the city.

The comments came as Ofsted announced it was extending its investigation into Birmingham schools. The chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, called for more evidence and announced that three more schools are to be visited by Ofsted inspectors.

Russell Hobby, the NAHT's general secretary, was speaking before the union's conference in Birmingham this weekend, where he is to tell delegates: "A tight network of religious leaders of the Islamic faith has made a concerted effort to get involved in the running of schools and to strengthen the power of governing bodies to have a dominant influence in shaping the character of local schools."

Hobby said that while his union was convinced the "Trojan Horse" letter – which described an alleged plot to undermine schools in the city – was fake, it had triggered warnings about school governance, abuse of employment laws and interference with children's education.

But he also told a press conference that the problems involving school governance were not unique to Birmingham.

The NAHT is supporting 30 of its members in Birmingham caught up in the investigations being conducted by the Department for Education (DfE), Ofsted and Birmingham city council, and is doing detailed case work in a dozen schools.

"We ourselves have concerns about what has been going on in around half a dozen of those schools," Hobby said.

"We don't believe that these allegations are a cause for panic. But neither do we believe that they are a source of comfort either," he said, adding: "There have been things going on inside our schools which would make some of us feel uncomfortable."

Hobby said the NAHT and its members had identified three main areas of concern.

"The first is contravening what we understand to be the principles of good governance and putting pressure on the paid school leaders within schools to adopt certain philosophies and approaches," he said.

"The second we believe is breaching good employment practice and indeed employment law in order to further this influence, and putting pressure on individual staff members heading into territory which we understand to be constructive dismissal and making sure people are appointed to schools on the basis of their beliefs and not necessarily their skills."

The third issue, which Hobby said was "more serious but also more speculative", was whether the entitlement of children to a rounded education had been contravened.

"It is really hard to draw a line between the boundary from local adaptation to depriving children of entitlement," he said.

Asked if he was worried about events in Birmingham's schools, Hobby replied: "I don't think it's as widespread as some coverage might imply.

"I don't think it's limited to Birmingham. I think there are small numbers and I think to some extent people are doing what they've been asked to, which is take ownership of a school and raise standards."

Meanwhile, the head of Ofsted has asked his inspectors to collect additional evidence in their investigation into Birmingham schools, with three more state primary schools in the city coming under the spotlight.

The new round of inspections takes the number of schools in Birmingham being investigated to 21.

The move comes after Wilshaw's visit to Birmingham last week to supervise the combined Ofsted investigation, which was triggered by a request from the DfE for the schools regulator to examine allegations of an Islamic plot.

"Given the circumstances surrounding these inspections, Sir Michael wants to ensure that inspectors have sufficient time to work through the detailed evidence in order to complete their inspection findings," Ofsted said in a statement.

Ofsted said all 21 inspection reports will be published together with a letter from Wilshaw to the DfE at the beginning of June.