Schools Bill: Fact vs Fake
An email arrived with this pamphlet attached on the The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Schools bill) which is about to be passed by parliament.
The pamphlet contains the above summary and below is a response. Bold italicised text is from the pamphlet; regular text is my comment.
It’s important to make clear at the outset that the bill covers a number of issues and I am dealing here only with those provisions which are of concern to chareidi communities, though the real concern is predominantly in chasidic communities.
The material provisions affecting our communities will:
Compel all school settings to be registered.
Compel parents to enrol their children between the ages of 5-16, boys and girls, in a school, which perforce will be registered.
Compel local authorities to monitor and ensure that children are attending school.
Increase enforcement powers and impose penalties and even prison sentences on schools and parents that break the law.
THIS IS GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF OUR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION
The biggest lie being spread is that the Schools Bill changes the content of education. IT DOES NOT. The parts of the bill that are of local concern will compel almost all educational settings for children up to 16, which includes yeshive ketanos (chareidi boys’ schools for the ages of 13-16), to register as independent schools. As a result of registration, yeshive ketanose will be subject to the The Independent School Standards (ISS) like almost all chadorim and girls’ schools. Those standards are not changed under the new law. The standards for yeshive ketanes will be the same as for girls’ secondary schools as they are a similar age group. There’s never been a suggestion of a government ‘takeover’ of girls’ education.
The schools bill gives the government unlimited control of your children’s education
The government will NOT have “unlimited” control and chadorim and yeshives can continue to teach limudei kodesh provided that they also teach secular subjects which satisfy the ISS. The ISS set out a very broad framework of what must be taught and schools have a huge discretion on how to teach it and on the educational material they use. The ISS includes requirements to give pupils experience in linguistic, mathematical, scientific, technological, human and social, physical and aesthetic and creative education, speaking, listening, literacy and numeracy skills, and personal, social, health and economic education. This is what very many, if not most, parents want their children to be taught and which can be taught without offending our sensitivities and values.
These standards will NOT change under the proposed new law and are no different to the standards currently being followed in girls’ schools that almost ALL chareidi girls in the UK attend and a very large number of chareidi boys too in schools such as Yesodey Hatorah, Pardes House, Tiferes Shlomo, Chinuch Neorim and many others. Chareidi state aided schools like Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls, Menorah High and Beis Yaakov High in Manchester must follow the national curriculum which is much more prescriptive than the ISS and yet no has suggested that the government has “unlimited control” over their education, so why is the imposition of the ISS on boys’ education so “dangerous” that it’s even been compared to “conversion”?
• They will decide how to educate your children - not you!
Parents are free to decide which school their children attend and schools can decide how and what children are taught provided that that education complies with the ISS. Those standards are not changing under the proposed new law and already apply to almost all Chareidi girls’ schools and to many boys’ schools. They are also far less onerous than the national curriculum which is adhered by state-aided chareidi girls’ schools.
At the moment yeshive ketanos are unregistered under the pretence that they are a form of “homeschooling” which they are patently not, or that the parents are providing homeschooling. (It’s never too clear what the position is and keeps on changing to fit the argument at hand.) The result is that children too often occupy buildings that are not safe, are under the control of unsuitable teachers and are taught very little. The new law will force yeshive ketanos to be registered and subject to Ofsted inspections.
Whatever issues there have been with Ofsted, they have improved the safeguarding of children by forcing schools and chadorim to improve their school curriculum, text books, staff and premises. The above advert for a teaching job at a chasidic Stamford Hill cheder is a direct result of Ofsted’s intervention in our schools. KS2, CPD and DBS were meaningless acronyms in the days when our schools were left to their own devices.
The government will force you to teach your children the educational programs
There is no “educational program” other than the ISS and the national curriculum. Registered independent school will have to comply with the ISS only and, as stated above, the ISS will not change under the new law. The purpose of the law is to ensure that all children are safe while at school and that the education of all children is consistent with the ISS. Once the new law is passed it will include almost all chadorim, yeshive ketanos and girls’ schools of all ages. The ISS are not exclusive and schools and yeshives are free to teach other subjects alongside the ISS. This is why all chareidi schools teach kodesh subjects. This have never been a problem and will continue under the new law.
• If you do not comply you could face legal penalties.
This is true and should be of no concern to schools and mot parents who want the best for their children. This is of concern only to arsekonim and the reason for the penalties is because the current law has been brazenly disregarded. They would like to continue the lie that yeshives with tens or even hundreds of boys are “homeschools” when they are clearly not. This endangers the physical welfare of children as is attested by the many incidents which are widely reported within the community and occasionally also make headlines in the national press. Such incidents are a chilul Hashem and bring our community into severe disrepute.
The current situation also deprives children of the most basic reading, writing and numerical skills and they grow up with little or no understanding of the world around them. This leads to a vast dependency on benefits, communal handouts, begging and unfortunately in too many instances it also leads to fraud. This is not covered in any of the propaganda and lies being circulated in opposition to the new law because the arsekonim have no answer to provide. Education may indeed not solve all problems but it broadens children’s understanding and horizons and which they can expand upon in adulthood. The government pays the benefits and has a direct and legitimate interest in how citizens of this country are raised.
• They will ignore your values, your faith in Hashem and your traditions!
No they will not. Our values, our faith in Hashem and our traditions are being faithfully followed in all chareidi girls’ schools and in all chadorim which are almost all registered schools and must already comply with the ISS. The ISS Guide which is published by the Department for Education expressly states:
“For the avoidance of doubt, teaching that some religions, all religions, or atheism/agnosticism are wrong does not conflict with fundamental British values”
The “fundamental British Values” are defined in the ISS as being “democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs”. This not only does not contradict any Jewish values but is consistent with the requirements to be respectful to our host country. The posuk in Yirmiyohu says:
ודרשו את שלום העיר אשר הגליתי אתכם שמה והתפללו בעדה אל ה’ כי בשלומה יהיה לכם שלום
Seek the peace of the country where you are in exile and pray for her to Hashem for through her peace there will be peace to you.
It is true that aspects of the British values curriculum insofar as LGBT issues are concerned have clashed with our values. Yet, despite the difficulties no schools have been closed or fined as a result and some schools have found ways to accommodate those requirements without compromising their ethos and values. Ofsted have also become more sensitive to our culture and such issues now feature less in reports and in the news. Whatever the case, we will be no worse off under the new law.
An educational system that deliberately deprives entire generations of children of even the most basic skills necessary to lead a productive and self-sufficient life is not consistent with any Jewish values and shows no concern for the peace and welfare of our country. The Gemore says that parents that do not teach their children necessary skills is as if they teach them banditry. Says Rashi, because without the necessary skills to earn a living they will have to resort to crime. The regular reports of allegations and convictions in our communities here and abroad attests to the prescience of this mamar Chazal.
This is the greatest threat to parental rights in British history
This is nonsense and only someone without knowledge of history would make this silly statement. Essentially, the current laws should in principle cover everything that the new law covers. It was partly due to ambiguity surrounding “homeschooling” that our institutions found loopholes to evade regulation and supervision and which makes this new law necessary. Almost all charieidi girls attend schools which are subject to the ISS and some are subject even to the requirements of the national curriculum. Under the new law all boys’ schools and yeshive ketanos will also have comply with the ISS which is a positive development.
If we are talking of history, very many of our parents and grandparents attended non-Jewish school in pre-war Hungary, Czekoslovakia, Austria, Germany and other places. Those countries had none of the safeguards that we have and yet it is to their steadfastness in Yiddishkeit that we turn to as inspiration in trying times.
Chareidi children are entitled to and deserve better. The current situation where thousands of boys are being brought up without the most basic of skills in any language is a scandal and the sooner it comes to an end the better. Had we taken care of this ourselves due to the current situation being intolerable and unsustainable the new law would not have been necessary and we would not have seen it as a threat. The government has been forced to step in only in the absence of leadership and foresight on our part.
Setting aside the entire debate on secular subjects, there is also an acute problem of very many children who for a variety of reasons are not suited to yeshive studies. These boys are either not accepted into yeshives in the first place or are expelled with no recourse to law, Jewish or civil, to compel yeshives to account and provide reasons for, or for parents to appeal, such decisions. The government has no interest in this because it relates to religious education and those now crying wolf over the new law are strangely silent on this issue despite purporting to be concerned with a Torah education.
One might have thought that not being in a yeshive, someone would provide at least these boys with a basic secular education since they are clearly not made for the rigour and intensity of yeshive study. But that is not the case. At best there are some yeshives for so-called “weak” boys where they are taught very little but instead are given a “good time” with lots of fun, singing, trips, food, less rigorous demands on time keeping and attendance and perhaps even leniency on the hat, coat and shirt colour they must wear. Wow! Revolutionary! And at worst these lads roam the streets, hang about in shuls sipping ice coffees and milkshakes and in their spare time which they have in abundance they do some rounds “collecting”. And at very worst they are shipped off abroad out of sight and sound and with less opportunity to embarrass their parents.
So stop pretending that our primary concern is boys’ education. The new law will produce better citizens and better Jews too. History shows us that many of our sages were proficient in the national language and broader studies. The Rambam wrote in Arabic, Rav Shmuel Hanogid directed an army, Rashi translated into French, the Ramban debated with archbishops and closer to our times, Reb Shimshon Refoel Hirsh translated into German and the Shoproner Rov had a PhD. It is high time that we provide our boys with basic education skills which they not only require and are entitled to but which we as a community need to continue to thrive. Let us hope that this law achieves its aims in this direction.
The moisdos (and madrasses) will just ignore it all anyway. As oft said, ultimately Government (used losely) is no match for organised religion. Let's see them put people in prison because of their religious views.
But if I understand it correctly yeshivah ketonos for 14 year's old is going to be unlawful. Many non-chassidim parents send their children away at 14/15 (even if the boys sleep at home) to baby sitting clubs , I mean litvish yeshiva ketonos. Thise will be unlawful for under school leaving age.
Probably a bit more than 'some'. Their whole point is that they are yeshivos and not schools. Actually, in many cases they are babysitting clubs. The high schools are generally rubbish for limudei chol so in some cases even less extreme, more wordly, GG parents who feel they may as well send to yeshiva ketono.