Sir Mike Tomlinson said he introduced the ban following negative publicity over how hardliners infiltrated state schools

The phrase ‘Trojan Horse scandal’ has been banned in Birmingham because it is ‘unhelpful’ to the city and its schools, its education commissioner has revealed.

Sir Mike Tomlinson said he introduced the ban following negative publicity over how hardliners infiltrated state schools in the city and tried to impose an Islamic agenda.

He said the phrase, which he refused to even say himself, was damaging morale among teachers and even hurting recruitment to schools.

Sir Mike, who is a former chief inspector of schools, was brought into the city in 2014 to help repair the damage done by the affair.

It was sparked by an anonymous letter sent to the city council about a plot by Muslim groups to install governors at schools called ‘Operation Trojan Horse’.

Speaking at the Varkey Foundation Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, Sir Mike said the phrase was not used by officials anymore.

He said: 'The term that was originally used about the letter is not in official use now.

'It has disappeared as a term, we refer more broadly to schools that are vulnerable, rather than that phrase.

'I'm not going to say it because I was the one that got it to be stopped.

'It wasn't helpful to the schools and it wasn't helpful to the city and its schools.

'So it's not used anymore.'

Former Oldknow Academy acting head teacher, Jahangir Akbar, was accused of trying to ‘eliminate’ the celebration of Christmas in school and of ‘undermining tolerance’ of other beliefs

The Trojan Horse affair saw the launch of multiple investigations and reports focusing on several schools with mainly Muslim pupils.

The authenticity of the letter has never been established, but Sir Mike said he believes it accurately reflected events that had taken place in schools.

He said that staff who opposed the ‘infiltration’ were ‘targeted, bullied and harassed until they resigned’.

In the wake of the government inquiries, the need for schools to promote ‘British values’ was introduced and Sir Mike's current role, overseeing schools in the city, was created.

Several teachers alleged to have been involved have faced disciplinary action by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL).

Sir Mike said: 'Some of the schools that were first of all caught up in that, it was ultimately proved that they weren't involved at all.

'Secondly, without a doubt that term was beginning to have an adverse impact on the morale of teachers in Birmingham.

‘And equally, an impact upon the recruitment of people to Birmingham - not just to the schools but to the authority itself.

'It was 21 schools out of 437. So one has to be quite careful about that term.

A teaching panel found that pupils at Park View School had been 'immersed in orthodox Islamic doctrine'

'At the time, I know why it was used, but gradually it became more of a problem rather than a solution.

'So if I'm as careful as I try to be, I never use the term.'

The problems facing Birmingham's schools could happen in other cities, he said.

‘The events were unprecedented but not impossible to happen elsewhere,’ he said.

Sir Mike said that in response to the controversy there had been improvements to whistleblowing arrangements and staff training and greater scrutiny of the role of governors.

‘Young people are now undoubtedly safer,’ he said.

TROJAN HORSE: SCANDAL THAT SAW SCHOOLS PUT IN SPECIAL MEASURES The Trojan Horse scandal started with an anonymous letter in March last year describing an Islamic plot to take over schools in Birmingham called 'Operation Trojan Horse'. The document - now thought to be a hoax - proposed a campaign of installing governors and undermining and then replacing school leaders with staff who would be more sympathetic to their religious agenda. That in turn led to 21 schools being inspected by schools inspector Ofsted, which put six schools in special measures and said five had not done enough to protect children from extremism. Golden Hillock School, Nansen Primary School, Park View School - all run by the Park View Educational Trust - Oldknow Academy and Saltley School in Birmingham were placed in special measures. Another school investigated, Alston Primary, was already in special measures. Then in November last year, inspectors found evidence that six independent faith schools in Tower Hamlets, in east London, had an unbalanced curriculum. Several teenage girls have fled to join ISIS in Syria from schools in Tower Hamlets. Advertisement



