Extremist views

3rd October 2008, 1:00am

Dennis Hayes is right to want a charter for teachers that allows us to “question and test received wisdom” (“Let extremists have their say in class”, TES, September 26). But he is wrong to think extremist teachers should be able to put forward extremist views.

Should Mohammad Sidique Khan, the suicide bomber, have been allowed to put forward his views to young children? As head of a school with a 75 per cent Muslim population, I think not. At a time when we are striving to promote community cohesion, allowing the promulgation of extremist views, rather than the exposure of the false truths on which they are based, is not just irresponsible, but dangerous.

Ian Fenn, Headteacher, Burnage Media Arts College, Manchester.