Al-Madinah Free School

Lord Cormack Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I entirely agree with the noble Baroness on the last point. There is no place in our school system for such practices and we have made that absolutely clear to this school. As regards the monitoring of schools, our procedures are extremely tight. This situation developed quite rapidly over the summer, leading up to the head teacher’s resignation.

[Lord Cormack (Con)]

Does my noble friend accept that dogmatism is not normally compatible with common sense? Does he accept that there are many teachers in some of the finest schools in this country, which produce some of the best results, who do not have a formal qualification, just as there are many schools where all the teachers have a formal qualification but where the results are less than satisfactory? We have to preserve a sense of balance in all these things.

[Lord Nash]

I am grateful to my noble friend for his question. I agree with him entirely on both points.