A new ‘whistleblowing’ system introduced in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal has seen 30 worried teachers or parents complaining about Birmingham schools in just six months.
Since the launch of its new ‘whistleblowing and serious misconduct policy’, Birmingham City Council has received a flurry of complaints, including claims of maladministration of SATs results, fears a child was injured at a nursery and nepotism during staff recruitment.
The new system followed recommendations by government adviser plot by hardline Muslims to take over governing bodies of schools.
READ MORE: {}
The policy has seen 49 whistleblowers raising their concerns between January and June this year - 30 of which were related to the education system.
Nine of the cases are still being investigated by the local authority – including one about an unnamed local authority-maintained Birmingham primary school accused of showing favouritism when hiring staff and of tampering with Key Stage 1 results.
Most recent complaints concern teachers being absent from school “without apparent good reason” whilst still on full pay, reveals a report by the council’s senior solicitor Michael Day.
“One concerned an alleged injury to a child in a nursery,” adds the report, which was put to the council’s education and vulnerable children scrutiny committee.
“This mater has been investigated.
Most Read
“It was concluded that there were no .
“Additional support has been provided to the family.”
But he said the council had “no legal power” to investigate complaints it receives about academies or free schools – unless the allegation concerned safeguarding or children with special educational needs.
He said of the 30 complaints received about schools, 13 were regarding academies or free schools – all of which have been referred to the Government’s Education Funding Agency for investigation.
However, he said Birmingham’s Education Commissioner Sir Mike Tomlinson has had to intervene to ensure the EFA were investigating the cases after the council had not received any communication from the EFA.
The news comes after Sir Mike said the anonymous letter which sparked the .
He said inquiries by the Department of Education and Ofsted found evidence which “mirrored what was said in the letter”.