Efforts to bar girls from wearing the hijab at primary schools were “naked racism dressed up as liberalism”, a teachers’ union conference heard as it unanimously backed a motion attacking official support for the ban.

The National Education Union’s annual conference in Brighton voted to challenge statements by Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted and the chief inspector of schools in England, over the issue of girls as young as five wearing the hijab in state schools.

The motion accused Spielman of going beyond her remit as chief inspector of schools over her recent comments linking the wearing of the hijab to sexualisation of young girls and her call for “muscular liberalism” to promote British values in schools.

Latifa Abouchakra, a teacher from Ealing, told the conference that such language was “just another term for racism and Islamophobia”, and made Muslims an easy target.

Abouchakra related how she had been called a “terrorist” while leading a secondary school class trip to Hampton Court.

“[Ofsted’s] stance has other ramifications. It signals to the British public that women are oppressed by Islam, and emboldens groups such as EDL [English Defence League], BNP [British National party] and other racist groups,” she said.

Last year, Spielman said Ofsted school inspectors could ask young girls why they wore the hijab, when wearing it “could be interpreted as sexualisation” of girls as young as four or five. Most Islamic teaching requires headdress for girls only at the onset of puberty.

Mehreen Begg, a teacher from Croydon, said Ofsted’s position was “unwarranted and draconian”.

“It is wholly inappropriate for Ofsted inspectors to question primary-age Muslim girls on their choice of dress. This is an act of intimidation by a powerful adult on a young child and has no place in our education system,” Begg said.

Pete Smith, a delegate from Swindon, accused Ofsted of aiding a hostile climate for Muslims, calling its policy on hijabs as racism “dressed up as liberalism”.

“Let’s tell Ofsted, let’s tell the DfE [Department for Education], that we are not prepared to stand up for their racism. We will face them down, we will push that racism back by any means necessary,” he told delegates.



After the motion was passed on Sunday morning, the NEU section president, Kiri Tunks, said: “It sends a really important message to the Muslim community that we will stand with you against these attacks.”

A spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said it welcomed the union’s efforts: “It appears that Ofsted is becoming increasingly isolated in its ‘muscular liberalism’ approach on imposing clothing restrictions for young Muslim girls.”

The controversy grew earlier this year when Spielman publicly supported an effort by the leadership of St Stephen’s primary school in Newham to stop young girls wearing the hijab at school. The school’s head dropped the ban after an outcry.

“Given St Stephen’s primary school, where this began, has acknowledged its ban was a ‘huge error of judgment’, we can only hope that [Ofsted] will listen and learn rather than continue on its confrontational non-engagement strategy, which will only harm the very young children Ofsted is meant to support,” the MCB said.

When the motion was first announced, a spokesperson for Ofsted said: “There’s nothing political about ensuring that schools and parents aren’t being subject to undue pressure by national or community campaign groups.

“Headteachers need to be able to take uniform decisions on the basis of safeguarding or community cohesion concerns, and Ofsted will always support them in doing that.”