East Lancashire schools chief’s academies fear (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Changing the status of a Local Authority maintained school into an academy does not, in itself, create an improvement in standards. What does improve standards is the quality of provision, in particular the capacity of teachers to raise their performance from satisfactory, to good and then to excellent.

Such improvement in teaching can best be achieved by intensive work with experienced senior leaders within a school in partnership with learning consultants from outside the school . Lancashire have some exceptional learning consultants who have helped to improve the quality of teaching in many schools and in so doing improve the outcomes for the pupils within those schools.

It would be negligent beyond belief for a Primary School Governing Body to turn its back on what is the best support system in England in favour of the unknown with an academy sponsor who is unproven and has no experience of primary education.

Lancashire County Council are pretty crap at many things but the quality of support, and the excellence of their provision for children and young people, has been second to none for many years. Micheal Gove simply cannot get his head round the fact that someone other than him is providing the excellence.

Academies bill will enable a radical overhaul of England's schools, giving every school the chance to convert to an academy and giving parents the right to create free schools outside the control of LAs.The new schools will drive up standards and the education would be in accordance with the needs and demands of the parents. It will help native Brits, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities to set up their own schools for the education of their children. It is nothing to do with integration or segregation. Segregation already exists in British schoolings, it is not going to widen. President Obama supports free schools in America because they have benefitted the least well off the most. Educating children is the priority.

It is wrong to assert that a small unrepresentative group of Muslim activists tried to islamicise a state primary school in Woking. The silent majority of Muslim parents would like to send their children to state funded Muslim schools. They are not extremists who want to change of ethos of those schools where Muslim children are in majority. It is the democratic right of every Muslim parent to see that their children receive balanced education, so that when their children grow up, they do not find themselves cut off from their cultural roots and linguistic skills. It is a question of common sense, humanity and reason that bilingual Muslim children must be educated in state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. The whole world believes that people who speak more than one language is a vital economic asset. Pupils who speak more than one language do not cause difficulties. It is the politicians and monolingual teachers who are the problems for bilingual pupils. Muslim school will help to cultivate the child into a healthy, fully flourishing individual with a passion for learning. There are hundreds of state and church schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be opted out as Muslim Academies.

Muslim schools are not only faith schools; they are more or less bilingual schools. Bilingual Muslim children need to learn and be well versed in Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. State schools with monolingual teachers do not teach Standard English to Migrant children. Bilingual Muslim children learn English in the playgrounds and in the streets. They speak street language with its own grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The teachers let them speak the same accent in the classroom. They have no courage to stop them or correct them. This is one of the main reasons why one third of children have difficulties with reading when they leave primary schools. Majority of such children are Muslims. In other European countries and in the sub-continent argot and slang are not allowed into the classroom. In Britain primary school teachers do not feel that it’s their role to interfere with self-expression in any shape or form. They encourage children to read poems and stories written in ethnic dialects.

Muslim faith schools are more or less bilingual schools. Priority will be given to the teaching of Standard English, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages. All Muslim children will learn and be well versed in Standard English and Quranic Arabic and at the same time they will learn and be well versed in one of the community language to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. Majority of children will learn Urdu language because it is a lingua franca of the migrants from the sub-continent. And majority of British Muslims are from Pakistan and their national language is Urdu.
Iftikhar Ahmad
http://www.londonsch
oolofislamics.org.uk

Iftikhar - you give a perfect illustration of why we shouldn't have Muslim only schools in the UK. And by the way, if you want Muslim Children to speak English then it might be a good idea for their parents to speak to them in English rather than in the language of their ancestors which will be of absolutely no use to them except in their own community. Grow up!

The new inspection system will have a tighter focus on preparing children for life in multicultural Britain. In my opinion the whole of British education system has been preparing children for a mono-cultural society rather than for life in multicultural Britain. Muslim children have been mis-educated and de-educated by state schools for the last 60 years. The whole world belongs to Muslims. A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to become notoriously monolingual Brit. He/she must be well versed in Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. At the same time he/she must be well versed in Arabic, Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with his/her cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. A child who has English as a second language is seen as having a special need – not as having a skill to be lauded from the rooftops. Bilingual children think in different way. Language has a profound effect in shaping the ways people think and act. State schools are slaughter houses and are not suitable for bilingual Muslim children. Muslim children in the UK may lose out when they join reception classes because the school’s values and language reflect those of the dominant native culture, rather than those of their. Almost all recent research literature agrees that if you want children whose home language is not English to excel in English –medium schools, it is important to nurture and acknowledge that first language alongside their English development. Cultivating bilingualism could and should promote pupil’s linguistic development. Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models.

Students at Muslim schools achieved over 88% A/A* at GCSE. They turn out confident, well adjusted young people who are, in the main, passionate about learning as a lifelong process. Children leave schools with full self-confidence and self-esteem because they do not suffer from institutional racism in Muslim schools. Muslim teachers are true role models for them during their developmental periods.

The right to education in one’s own comfort zone is a fundamental and inalienable human right that should be available to all people irrespective of their ethnicity or religious background. Schools do not belong to state, they belong to parents. It is the parents’ choice to have faith schools for their children. Migrant Muslims are not economic slaves. They are part and parcel of British society with their own cultures, languages and faith. Migrant Muslims need to preserve and transmit their cultural, linguistic and spiritual identities; otherwise, they will be lost in the western jungle. Learning Arabic, Urdu and other community languages do not deter people from integrating. It helps them integrate. British schooling is at war with Migrant Muslims learning Arabic, Urdu and other community languages. Multilingualism should be celebrated because it is an asset but British education regards it as a problem.

We live in a shrunken world and millions of people are on the move; one of our biggest challenges is how we learn to live in proximity to difference – different skin colours, different beliefs and different way of life. According to a study by COMPAS, Muslims born and educated were given the impression of outsiders. The perception among Muslims is that they are unwelcome in Britain is undermining efforts to help them integrate into wider society. Most of them say that they have experienced race discrimination and religious prejudice. Muslims and Islam is promoted a fundamentalist and separatist by the western elite, which have negative impact on community and social cohesion. The number of racist incidents occurring in London Borough of Redbridge’s schools have reached their highest levels since record begin. Racism is the biggest type of bullying at schools in Bradford accounting for 75 per cent of incidents during the last academic year, it has been revealed.

According to recent studies, bilingual Muslim pupils feel unsafe and unwelcome in state or public schools because they are bullied by native children. Anthropologist Laura Gillian from Danish Pedagogic University, who has carried out field work, believes that many minority children feel that they do not belong in their schools. The feeling of alienation, as well as dissatisfaction with the curriculum, has been brewing for a long time with the result that many ethnic groups have started their own private schools. The Manifesto of the Norwegian Terrorist and mass murderer clearly states that in Europe Pakistani Muslims are on the increase because of migration and high birth rate and one day they are going to demand the Pakistan of Europe. When he was in school, he was afraid of a Pakistani gang. He is afraid of popularity of Islam and revertion of Europeans.

Community cohesion has failed because there is a negative experience of mutual understanding and cooperation between the hostile host community and Muslim community. A report by the Institute for Community Cohesion found that native parents were deserting some schools after finding their children outnumbered by pupils from ethnic minorities. Schools in parts of England are becoming increasingly segregated. The study focused on 13 local authorities. Many of the schools and colleges are segregated and this was generally worsening over recent years. This is RACISM because British society is the home of institutional racism. Muslim children need Muslim teachers during their developmental periods. For higher studies and research, Muslim teacher is not a priority.

There are good grounds for believing that linguistic and intercultural competence are more important than ever in preparation for global citizenship and for life in multicultural societies. In this context, community languages represent a valuable resource for individual and society and yet they have been marginalised in British education system. There has been a failure to locate them within language and literacy policies and to recognise links to inclusion, community cohesion and citizenship. According to a French political sociologist, Muslims in Europe feel that they are not welcome. Inspite of official initiative, a significant minority see institutional racism across the board. Blatant racism exists in parts of the world of work. Religious intolerance is “the new racism” and one of the main causes of persecution of minorities. Terrorism efforts and economic marginalisation are increasingly being associated with religion, not ethnicity. In my opinion, British schooling has been producing Muslim youths with anger, extremism and frustration. Muslim children are confused because they are being educated in a wrong place at a wrong time in state schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers. They face lots of problems of growing up in two distinctive cultural traditions and value systems, which may come into conflict over issues such as the role of women in the society, and adherence to religious and cultural traditions. The conflicting demands made by home and schools on behaviour, loyalties and obligations can be a source of psychological conflict and tension in Muslim youngsters. There are also the issues of racial prejudice and discrimination to deal with, in education and employment. They have been victim of racism and bullying in all walks of life. British schooling and the British society is the home of institutional racism. BNP, EDL and all other main political parties are the true photo of the racist British society. Why not NATO and all the other WATCH DOGS group impose sanction on England, for not doing anything to tackle the racism in their Country. These so-called organisations can interfere with the Middle East Countries, to rape the people of their OIL! But can’t do anything about the racism and exploitation of minority groups in England. When these societies oppress some groups, and unleash the monster then, and the people retaliate, then they call them terrorist! Need some serious pro-action instead of reaction. According to DFE, 56% of Pakistanis and 54% of Bangladeshi children has been victims of bullies. The first wave of Muslim migrants were happy to send their children to state schools, thinking their children would get a much better education. Than little by little, the overt and covert discrimination in the system turned them off. There are fifteen areas where Muslim parents find themselves offended by state schools. The British teachers have no respect for Islamic faith and Muslim community. Western education system can easily deprogram Muslim children and force them to adopt un-Islamic values. Let the Muslim parents decides how and where to educate their children. According to MORI social research institute on behalf of Bristol LEA, nine out of ten Muslim parents agreed with the model of an Islamic secondary school set up within the state system. I rejected British schooling for Muslim children in the early 70s. I have been campaigning for state funded Muslim schools since then. I set up the first Muslim school in London in 1981. At the time of 9/11, there were only 54 schools and now there are more than168 full time Muslim schools and more are in the pipe lines. Only 12 Muslim schools are state funded. According to a report, the majority of Islamist terrorists in the UK are British born and educated is under the age of 30, well educated and likely to be employed. Most terrorism in Britain is committed by home-grown terrorists. Britain’s fight against terrorism has been a disaster. It has alienated Muslim youths. The campaign has targeted non-violent Muslims and branded them as supporters of violence. Britain remains under severe risk from terror attacks. The government policy had made the task of the police harder by alienating Muslim youths. The staffs at Gendale Primary in Pollokshield, where Muslim children are in majority, are being asked to look for signs of radicalisation. It is an increibly worrying development. We cannot have a culture of teachers spying on Muslim children as young as five. Racism is very ripe in Scottish schools and society. Muslim and other minority children has been victim of racism in all walks of life. LAs and schools are trying their best to hide this issue under the carpet. Hardly anybody was convicted or imprisoned by the Authorities. What do you expect from Muslim youths when they have been victim of racism throughout their development periods? Now Muslim youths are victim of terrorism. Thousands of them are being searched in streets and hundreds of them are behind the bar without any trials.