Teachers should instil British values in their students through culture and sports and not by discussing the monarchy or politicians, according to the leader of the schools embroiled in the alleged Trojan Horse scandal.

Adrian Packer, chief executive of the Core Education Trust, took over the running of Park View Academy, now Rockwood Academy, and Nansen Primary School in Birmingham in the immediate aftermath of the Trojan Horse scandal in 2014.

And following his experiences over the past two years, Mr Packer now says he has turned the schools around and has the solution to radicalisation.

“We’re the answer,” he told TES. “What we have is a whole bunch of answers, solutions and experiences that will help in other situations.”

The central thrust of Core’s approach is to inculcate “authentic” British values by focusing on promoting sports and the arts, rather than giving students vague examples of “Britishness” and “pinning up pictures of the Queen”.

‘It makes us feel less British’

“British culture is best told through the arts and sport,” Mr Packer said. “Through that, you are able to give students opportunities to look outwards and see the world in a more authentic way. It’s not about standing up and talking about the Queen or the prime minister, because what the children told us was that if you go on about ‘being British’, ‘We’re going to feel less British.’”

Rockwood and Nansen are among the few state schools in the country to be official Lawn Tennis Association schools, while students often go on theatre trips and other cultural outings.

The two schools were at the epicentre of the so-called Trojan Horse scandal - an alleged conspiracy by hardline Islamists to infiltrate 21 schools in the West Midlands (article free for subscribers).

Ofsted had judged Park View as “outstanding” just two years prior to the scandal, but both the school and its feeder primary, Nansen, were immediately downgraded and placed in special measures.

Two years on and the two schools have been rated as “good” by inspectors.

Mr Packer said the improved Ofsted rating was a result of the methods they have put in place to instil British values in the school, and he believes other schools serving minority ethnic communities can learn from them.

This is an edited article from the 12 August edition of TES. Subscribers can read the full story here. To subscribe, click here. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here. You can also download the TES Reader app for Android and iOs. TES magazine is available from all good newsagents.

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