THE coalition has wasted taxpayers’ money and failed to protect the public during the “trojan horse” schools scandal, MPs and teachers’ unions said yesterday.

A report by the Commons education committee revealed yesterday that the government’s handling of the affair led to four separate yet inconclusive investigations.

No proof of the alleged attempt by radical Muslims to take control of several Birmingham school governing boards was found by any of the probes by the Department for Education, Birmingham City Council, schools inspectorate Ofsted and the Education Funding Agency.

“The trojan horse affair is less about extremism than about governance and the ability of local and central agencies to respond to whistleblowers and to correct abuses of power within schools,” said committee chairman Graham Stuart.
“We found a worrying and wasteful lack of co-ordination between the various inquiries.”

Teachers’ unions NUT and NASUWT came out in support of the committee’s findings and demanded better and more stable school supervision systems.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates denounced both the government and Ofsted for creating unnecessary confusion and a “frenzy” in schools.

“What is abundantly clear is the catalogue of failures by the coalition government to put in place effective checks, balances and controls in the current system to ensure that the public interest was safeguarded,” she added.

NUT leader Christine Blower said: “Teachers want school inspection processes which are challenging and constructive but accurate and fair — reporting only on what can be seen, without political bias or interference.

“Teachers and young people would benefit equally from a return to local democracy in all oversight arrangements for publicly funded schools.”