http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9750428/Extremism-unchecked-in-schools-secret-briefing-reveals.html
Extremism unchecked in schools, secret briefing reveals
More than 100 independent faith schools may be radicalising students, the Department of Education has warned in a secret memo which admits that officials are struggling to tackle extremism in state and private schools.
Michael Gove, the education secretary, was one of the key voices calling for a ban on support for non-violent extremism when it published its Prevent strategy to fight radicalisation last year.
But behind closed doors there are concerns about 118 “socially conservative” independent faith schools – the vast majority of them Muslim – where pupils may be encouraged to cut themselves off from mainstream society.
Ministers have been told they do not have “detailed information” about the religious orientation of the groups and movements behind all independent faith schools.
And officials have privately admitted that they also have no system in place to identify institutional extremism in state schools, the Daily Telegraph has learned.
They say there is also “a gap between what we think we know and what we can prove” because they cannot use undercover methods open to journalists.
From January, the Independent School Standards will require a respect for “fundamental British values” including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
Ofsted has not yet trained its inspectors in how to enforce such standards but it is introducing a “specialist cadre” of inspectors to look at faith schools as part of a planned “prioritised inspection programme.”
However, the education department has admitted in briefings that it can only look at the “ethos” of independent schools, rather than how they are actually run.