I don't get it. I thought Gove was pro faith schools, and getting parents to run them?

[PurplyBlue]

Has he changed his mind?

Oh, and I should have put 'discriminatory' as another adjective in my last sentence!

The schools involved were not faith schools, nor were they all academies/free schools. Some LA-maintained schools were involved as well.

um, but even if they were faith schools, or academies or not LA-maintained (or any combo): their alleged actions would be out of order, right?

Please tell me those aren't permission slips to be bigots.

I think the biggest learning curve out of the whole thing will be that there is often a good reason for so-called "bureaucracy" and that in something as important as education it's not enough to call for a light touch and just let schools get on with it completely by themselves (sometimes that produces great results, sometimes not).

I hope so, Bramshott.

PurplyBlue: It seems rather odd to me that it is okay to separate boys and girls by a wall or put them in separate schools but it is not okay to put them on separate sides of the class. The former seems a more extreme separation to me than the latter. However, in any case, I've read the Ofsted reports and nothing therein provides any evidence that there was any top-down systematic separation of boys and girls.

OTheHugeManatee: I have read the Ofsted reports and I couldn't see any evidence that girls were discouraged from taking part in extracurricular activities beyond some girls choosing not to participate in some such activities. What exactly do you mean by "discouraged" and what extracurricular activities are you referring to? There are lots of schools that have sports for one gender only, e.g. boys soccer team or girls netball team but nobody seems to have a problem with that.

The media reported that the Ofsted inspection on Oldknow Academy had found that reference was made to 'white prostitutes' in the assembly. However, the published report on Oldknow Academy says nothing about this or anything else being said in the assembly. Don't you think we should have a discussion based on the Ofsted reports rather than statements allegedly made in a leaked version of the report but which aren't reflected in what was published?

It seems rather odd to me that it is okay to separate boys and girls by a wall or put them in separate schools but it is not okay to put them on separate sides of the class. The former seems a more extreme separation to me than the latter.

It depends on the reasons for the separation I guess. Historically in the UK I would imagine that girls and boys were separated for reasons of propriety, because it was deemed somehow 'improper' that they should mix in case they were 'tempted'.

For sexual equality reasons, we have moved on from this now, so that we learn from a young age to deal with being in an environment with the opposite sex, since that after all is the real world - we aren't in Jane Austen times any more.

Yes, girls' and boys' schools still persist, as an anachronism more than anything else. I think the 'distraction' argument is the main justification these days, but single sex schools do seem outdated now, really.

However, in any case, I've read the Ofsted reports and nothing therein provides any evidence that there was any top-down systematic separation of boys and girls.

Well, if girls and boys are being treated and educated completely equally, in compliance with education guidelines and the National Curriculum, then there is no problem.

There have been debates on separating males from females, within universities. In the context of Muslim visiting speakers refusing to speak unless the genders are separated. This is forced segregation, and is hugely controversial. Separating black children from white children would be seen as completely unacceptable. Is this so different? And you can be sure that, once segregation had occurred, the girls and boys would not be taught the same things.