A study of reports on independent haredi schools, mostly yeshivas, issued by Ofsted, the British government schools inspection agency, during 2007 through 2014 found those schools were rated as “good” or “outstanding” 71% of the time – but only when the inspector was a haredi Jew. When those schools were inspected by non-haredi inspectors, only 22% were rated good or outstanding – meaning most schools had serious unreported deficiencies.
Haredim Working For British Government Allegedly Skew Schools Inspection Reports To Cover For Deficient Haredi Yeshivas
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A study of reports on independent haredi schools, mostly yeshivas, issued by Ofsted, the British government schools inspection agency, during 2007 through 2014 found those schools were rated as “good” or “outstanding” 71% of the time – but only when the inspector was a haredi Jew. When those schools were inspected by non-haredi inspectors, only 22% were rated good or outstanding – meaning most schools had serious unreported deficiencies.
According to a report in the Independent, the study was carried out by the British Humanist Association (BHA). The BHA says it opposes religious schools because of their “discriminatory admission, employment and curriculum policies,” and opposes government funding for these schools as a result.
The study of the Ofsted inspections of the haredi schools was done after complaints by former students – including one who testified before Parliament – who said they received little to secular education and were so deficient in math, science, English language skills and other similar subjects that they were unable to find decent employment or live normal lives.
“I was shocked, as were other parliamentarians, to hear the description of his education. It cast considerable doubt on the effectiveness of Ofsted inspections of these schools, particularly whether they were conducted in an impartial way,” Lord Warner, who took part in the those parliamentary hearings, reportedly said after the BHA was made public.
The BHA said it would be taking steps to compel Ofsted to deal with what appears to be a broken inspection system.
“Such a stark difference in the outcomes of these inspections raises questions not only of consistency, but also of partiality. It cannot be right that inspection grades vary depending upon who inspects the school. We will be writing to Ofsted to bring these inconsistencies to their attention,” Jay Hartman of the BHA said.
A former student of one of those haredi schools told the Independent that the haredi inspectors were skewing their reports to protect deficient haredi schools from enforcement action.
“Haredi inspectors have consistently given good and outstanding ratings to schools where the curriculum is almost entirely focused on studying religious scriptures. Hundreds of children leave these schools every year barely able to speak a word of English or calculate basic arithmetic. Such schools should not be receiving good/outstanding solely on the basis of a biased inspector,” the student siad.
In response to the BHA report, Ofsted tried to claim its inspectors do a good job – despite the clear evidence that they don’t.
“Ofsted inspects independent schools against a clear set of standards set by the Department for Education. These standards were strengthened last year, especially around the need for schools to provide a broad and balanced curriculum,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
The National Association of Orthodox Jewish Schools defended the haredi schools level of education and tired to put the blame for the discrepancies between haredi-done inspections and non-haredi-done inspections on the language barrier between non-Yiddish-speaking inspectors and haredim – even though all haredi students who are British born and raised are expected by law to be fluent in English.
“The Haredi schools curriculum is a cross-curricular programme including maths, geography, history and science, which can only be fully understood by inspectors who are knowledgeable and fully trained to inspect such schools. Inspectors who don’t understand the curriculum contents nor the language of instruction cannot make an accurate judgement,” the National Association of Orthodox Jewish Schools said in a statement.
[Hat Tip: D.O.]