Head of Ofsted: Anti-LGBTQ protests outside schools are setting a terrible example for the children
Amanda Spielman has called for 'calm discussions' rather than protests
By Steve Brown
The head of Ofsted has called for protests outside schools to stop.
Over the last couple of weeks, Muslim parents have been protesting outside various schools in Birmingham after learning they were teaching ‘No Outsiders’ classes – an LGBTQ+ inclusive programme.
During a protest outside Anderton Park Primary School, parents handed out leaflets saying ‘We DO NOT believe in homosexuality. Parents do NOT want their children’s belief changed’.
And despite the education watchdog praising the LGBTQ+ inclusive lessons, parents have continued to protest and even stop their children from going to school.
But now chief inspector Amanda Spielman has called for an end of the protests saying it sets ‘a terrible example for the children’.
While at the Muslim Teachers’ Association’s 40th anniversary, she said: “It is children’s voices that always get lost when adults stop talking and start shouting.
“I understand the strength of feeling in that community. But it serves no one well to intimidate teachers and start protesting outside the school gates.”
Instead of protests, Spielman called for ‘calm discussions in order to find a sensible middle ground – one that means children are prepared for life in a diverse modern, progressive country like ours, but it’s done in a sensitive and careful manner’.