Sunday schools in her sights

In a speech to church school leaders on 1 February, Amanda Spielman, Chief Inspector for Schools, talked of ‘muscular liberalism’ being used to curb religious extremism in schools and ‘under the radar’ settings.

Quoting one of the ‘British values’, she noted that in some Islamic ‘schools’ books had been found where wife beating was encouraged. This appeared in a discourse on ‘segments of particular faiths’ outside ‘mainstream Anglican practice in school’ which unfairly would include many Christian organisations and churches.

She chastised those who opposed legislation (which the government quietly dropped) which would have given Ofsted more power to inspect out-of-school groups, such as churches. And if stating that it is ‘incumbent on us to ensure that [school is used] to instill … the right values’ wasn’t chilling enough, she resurrected the idea of the Ofsted inspector sitting at the back of the church Sunday school room again.