When the government published its updated guidelines on independent school standards last week, Humanists UK accused it of caving into religious pressure. 

The humanist group, an avowed opponent of faith schools, complained that the Department for Education was diluting its commitment to LGBT equality.

Whereas the draft guide-lines last year said independent schools would be expected to talk about LGBT people at secondary level, now the DfE is leaving it up to schools to decide the “appropriate” age to cover the subject; which, says Humanists UK, gives schools a “loophole” not to do it at all.

Not that there is rejoicing in Stamford Hill. While some in the Charedi community think this is the best deal they could have got in the current climate; others believe the new document, following the relationships and sex education policy approved last month, will further tighten the screw on their schools.

The guide-lines meanwhile, have been broadly welcomed by the Board of Deputies.

So what will be the impact on Strictly Orthodox schools?

The main source of the problem for Charedi schools in recent years are regulations that state that, when teaching respect for others, independent schools should “pay particular regard” to the categories of people protected by equality law. These categories include sexual orientation and gender reassignment.

Charedi representatives have argued that the regulations do not specify that all “protected characteristics” — as they are termed — should be covered and it ought to be enough to refer to some of them.

However, the updated guide-lines now say it will be insufficient to teach respect for other people “in a general way”. 

Schools will be expected to explain how they cover protected characteristics in their curriculum policy. So the expectation is clearly that children should be aware of all protected characteristics, including those relating to LGBT people.

But there are concessions.

While children should be aware of the protected characteristics, the guidelines add that this applies “only to the extent that it is age appropriate”. So some Charedi schools could argue, for instance, that same-sex relations is a subject suitable only for the sixth form — and most Charedi schools do not have one.

Whether Ofsted and the Department for Education would go along with that remains to be seen, but it is, in theory, an option.

The DfE acknowledges  the guidelines have been “modified to allow schools to make more flexible choices” about the age particular protected characteristics are taught.
It also admits the change increases the chances of some secondary schools not teaching some characteristics.

There is potentially another important rider for Charedi schools.

The DfE says all independent school standards are “mandatory”, that it will be tougher on schools that fail to comply with them and faith schools will be treated no differently.
Schools that fail to come up to scratch can face restrictions on the numbers of pupils they are allowed to admit and ultimately closed.

However, the DfE now says that enforcement action “will not normally occur if there are only one or two unmet requirements… although the judgment will take into account the severity of the breaches”.

So a school that decides not to cover LGBT issues for religious reasons but meets the standards in every other respect may escape sanctions. 

Indeed, the DfE says that where, for instance, schools decide pupils are too young to be taught about sexual orientation, enforcement action is now “less likely” to follow.

Are there other areas of concern?

The guidance for the first time mentions creationism. Schools can teach it as part of their religious beliefs but they cannot claim there is “similar or superior evidence” for it as for scientific theories. The DfE doesn’t define creationism but probably means you can’t teach that the world is 5,779 years old or was created in six days as scientific fact.

Returning to equality issues, the guidance says that schools should ensure that children do not form a “restrictive view” of the opposite sex and careers advice should be clear that roles in society are open to any gender with few exceptions (such as “ministers of religion”).

Some in the Charedi community are concerned by the power given to inspectors to interrogate schools about books which “espouse values which conflict with any of the standards”, pointing out that the Tanach and Talmud contain views which do not always chime with social mores today. However, in their defence, schools should be able to evoke traditions from Jeremiah onwards of promoting civic peace in order to satisfy a zealous inspector.

The guidance also notes that some religious communities ostracise families whose conduct they disapprove of. It makes clear that children in schools should not suffer because of this.

What next?

A lot now depends on how the inspection service Ofsted interprets the guidance and how the DfE applies it. That could leave too much to the whim of individual inspectors or officials.

Compare the fate of two Charedi schools under the previous guidelines this week. The Manchester Senior Girls School sailed through its inspection, but the new Shiras Devorah in London was rapped for not talking about LGBT issues (though its pupils are currently aged only 11 and 12 and the school could argue it does not consider this “age appropriate”).