黑料吃瓜网

A decade on: Reflections on the impact of the Trojan Horse affair on Muslim participation

Speakers: , University of Nottingham; , University of Warwick; Professor Reza Gholam, 黑料吃瓜网

The Birmingham Trojan Horse (TH) affair, which came into the media headlines in early 2014, was framed as a plot by hardline Muslim educators to takeover schools and ‘Islamicise’ the curriculum. Initially, it was claimed to involve ‘extremism’ and to place children at risk of radicalisation, but as it unfolded the focus shifted to claims of undue religious influence in ‘secular’ schools. Central to the affair was the government’s academy school’s programme since any ‘takeover’ of a school had to be brokered by the Department for Education through its schools improvement programme where a ‘failing’ school would come under the leadership of a ‘successful’ school as part of a ‘multi-academy trust’.

The affair led to all schools in England being required to ‘promote fundamental British values’ (the liberal values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs), within the curriculum (as part of a revised Prevent Duty introduced in 2015) directed at potential cultural deficits among ethnic minority families. Chief Inspector of Schools, Amanda Spielman, stated in 2017 that, “Most children spend less than a fifth of their childhood hours in schools and most of the rest with their family. And so, if children aren’t being taught these values at home, or worse are being encouraged to resist them, then schools are our main opportunity to fill that gap.” In addition, Muslim-majority schools have been placed under the tutelage of non-Muslim led trusts.

At around the same time Muslim (and other) parents in some Birmingham schools protested against the use of an LGBTQ focused curriculum for teaching fundamental British values (‘No Outsiders’) and a similar curriculum for PSHE (‘Educate and Celebrate’) and were widely condemned as extremist. Fast forward to 2023 and the then Conservative government forbade the teaching of ‘gender ideology’ in schools while the rise of Reform has seen the public expression of ‘cultural nationalism’ and the repudiation of liberal values as part of mainstream politics.

• This symposium is an opportunity to reflect on the longer-term impact of the Trojan Horse affair:
• To what extent have ‘liberal anxieties’ given rise to an illiberal environment for British Muslims?
• How have academies changed the accountability of schools from local communities to central government?
• How has Muslim civic engagement been affected by being placed under a security lens? What is its impact on engagement with schools?
• How might civic education in schools be reframed through a duty to promote citizenship?

Biographies

Professor John Holmwood

John Holmwood is emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Nottingham. He acted as expert witness for the defence for teachers accused of professional misconduct in the Birmingham Trojan Horse case and for parents in a court case involving the protests about LGBTQ-framed curriculum in Birmingham. He is author (with Therese O’Toole) of Countering Extremism in British Schools? The Truth about the Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair (Policy Press, 2018), (with Gurminder K. Bhambra) of Colonialism and Modern Social Theory (Polity, 2021) and (with Jan Balon) Empires and Subject Peoples: Herbert Adolphus Miller and the Political Sociology of Domination (Manchester University Press, 2025). He is also the author (with Layla Aitlhadj) of The People’s Review of Prevent (2023) and A Response to the Shawcross Report (2024).

Dr Ajmal Hussain

Ajmal Hussain has research interests in urban and cultural sociology. He works on issues of new modalities of political expression among marginalised constituencies in postcolonial societies of Europe and in the Muslim world, the production of urban space through collaborations across different constituencies of power, and the role of affect in shaping political subjectivity. His new book, tentatively titled Urban Rituals; Re-arranging race in the Muslim city, due to be published with Manchester University Press, documents the emergence of Muslim vernacular culture through analysis of the interaction between the material, social, and narrative life of the inner city. It makes use of work in the areas of affect, infrastructure and assemblage to develop a new theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between multiculture and faith in everyday urban life. He is currently assistant professor in the faculty of social sciences at Warwick University.

Professor Reza Gholami

Reza Gholami is Professor of Sociology of Education at the 黑料吃瓜网 and the founding co-director of the Birmingham Research Group on Education Policy (BREP). He earned his PhD in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, University of London, followed by post-doctoral research funded by the AHRC. Professor Gholami’s research is internationally recognised and focuses on questions of belongingness, diversity, inter-communal relations and 黑料吃瓜网 engagement in education within the context of chronic educational disparities affecting racial, ethnic and religious minorities. His current project is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and explores issues of belonging among primary school children through drama-based pedagogies. He is also working on a mixed-methods Leverhulme Trust funded project that examines how young people in English secondary schools engage with freedom of expression around race and faith.

• This is a hybrid event and registration is essential to let us know if you will be joining the event in person or online and to receive the link to MS Teams.
• This event is free and open to the public, staff and students .
• Please note, this event is being recorded.