The Trojan Horse - Nicky Morgan shoots from the hip ...

The Trojan Horse story is really worrying for several reasons. There does seem to be clear evidence of malpractice at several schools, though this seems to me (as an experienced external observer) to relate to poor governance and poor oversight of governance more than any “plot” - I've seen governing bodies in white rural areas behave in many of these difficult ways. There does seem to be evidence of some really difficult and tendentious social media traffic - though whether this was “secret” as claimed by Peter Clark is another issue as he had no difficulty getting hold of it.

It's really unhelpful that Peter Clark has failed to visit any of the schools and to talk to anyone face-to-face - whatever his evidence and conclusions it would have been far better for community relations for an investigation to be more open. As Tim Brighouse has said, it would be surprising if governing bodies in schools and academies serving a predominantly Muslim community did not use the freedoms that are being promoted.

The notion of schools and academies as being simply there to serve the needs of the immediate local community is fundamentally flawed ... which was, of course, why we have local education authorities in the first place, to provide checks and balances.

The issue of “compulsory collective worship” has not been properly discussed and needs to be - ignoring whether you can compel anyone to worship. When I was at school, Roman Catholics did not attend school assembly, I can't think why, as the assemblies were hardly an exercise in promoting Anglicanism - and the hymn-singing, while enthusiastic, was not seen by many as spiritual but more an exercise in community music-making.

To return to the subject, Nicky Morgan, and her shooting from the hip. She has two difficult mind-changing jobs to do in nine months. She has to rebuild the confidence of the education professions in her and in the Conservative government - that's the overt job she has been given to do by David Cameron. The other job she has is to convince the Tory right wing that she is tough enough to keep the job, or another senior post, after the election.

It's in this latter context that she shot from the hip, in responding to Peter Clark's investigation report by saying that teachers who were proved not to be promoting British values, perhaps by inviting extremist speakers in to speak, would be sacked without right of appeal. This is just bizarre. Let's ignore for the minute the interminable debates we will now have about the legal definitions of “British values” and “extremist speakers”. The notion that anyone could properly be sacked without right of appeal is just bonkers. Any academy or school, or local authority, who sacks a staff member in this way, and whose defence against a claim of unfair dismissal in the employment tribunal is that the Secretary of State said they should do it, will find themselves loaded with huge punitive damages.

Even convicted criminals cannot be dismissed as employees except through due process. Nicky Morgan, a lawyer by training, ought to know this - and she probably does.

Of course Nicky Morgan is not the employer, even of academy staff, but if she starts throwing her weight about in this way, she will cause many more problems than she solves, as Ed Balls found when he forced Haringey Council to dismiss Sharon Shoesmith.

There is proper process, and it must be followed by all concerned, especially those in positions of public responsibility and trust. How can we expect local people to behave if the national models they are given are so flawed?

John Freeman CBE is a former director of children's services and is now a freelance consultant