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wo storms have hit the UK’s Jewish community in recent months: anti-Semitism in the opposition Labour Party, and the threat to Torah education from Ofsted inspections. But while outrage at Labour’s tolerance of anti-Semitism exploded again last week, there are signs of possible progress on the chinuch front.

Meeting for the first time last week, senior representatives of Ofsted and the Department for Education sat down with delegates from Chinuch UK, the new body representing Britain’s chareidi schools. The meeting was called in the wake of a series of hostile inspections of religious schools. A recent example occurred at London’s Yesoday Hatorah school, where an inspector reportedly asked girls if their redacted schoolbooks reminded them of the Nazi approach to censorship.

Chaired by Conservative politician Lord Stuart Polak and arranged by Rabbi David Meyer, chief executive of Partnership for Jewish Schools (PaJeS), the meeting showed that Chinuch UK, which represents more than half of the country’s Jewish schools, has become a serious player on the issue.

Chinuch UK chairman Dr. David Landau told Mishpacha that the positive tone of the exchange was significant. “Ofsted leaders expressed a genuine will to turn things around and apologized for actions on their side that might have led to the current situation. We reached an understanding that the perceived aggressiveness of the inspections will no longer be an issue.”

Beyond that, Dr. Landau expressed cautious optimism on the issue of “protected characteristics,” under which schools are meant to promote tolerance for various groups. Since these include lifestyles antithetical to Torah, the requirement to teach them has been at the heart of the current furor. “We now have confidence that where some schools have been approved, others will be able to implement their practices and pass inspection. Ultimately they made it clear that they don’t want to focus on protected characteristics.”

The fresh thinking Ofsted displayed at the meeting mainly arose from a recent trip that Mike Sheridan, chief Ofsted inspector for the London region, took to Manchester. There he saw firsthand how similar schools, such as Tiferes High School for girls, have been successful in passing inspections.

The school was able to demonstrate that besides teaching tolerance in general terms, they had developed a curriculum to teach some of the “protected characteristics” within an appropriate kodesh framework. Thus, for example, teaching how Avraham practiced hospitality to those who he thought were pagans demonstrates tolerance for those of other faiths. The understanding that inspectors will okay this approach in other places such as London, where schools have failed for not being specific enough on tolerance, is a step forward.

But in a sign of just how fragile any understandings are, an Ofsted spokesman released a statement denying there would be any change in the inspection criteria: “The Department for Education guidance… makes clear it is not sufficient for schools to promote respect in a general way, without explaining to secondary school pupils what all of the protected characteristics are.” Chinuch UK is proceeding under the assumption that Ofsted will continue to make statements like these for public consumption, but will move toward a quiet resolution of the issue.

Given Ofsted head Amanda Spielman’s avowed support for an “active liberalism,” pressure from the various secularist groups that have goaded Ofsted to enforce liberal values could easily tip the balance again. Only action at the political level to translate these understandings into government policy will solve the crisis in the long term.

On this second front, there is now movement as well headed by veteran Labour MP for Bury South Ivan Lewis, whose constituency contains a significant Orthodox Jewish population. Mr. Lewis, who served as a minister under Tony Blair, recently convened a meeting of fellow MPs who represent a similar Jewish demographic. Speaking to Mishpacha, he said, “As a minister, I can tell you that in the end, civil servants advise and ministers decide. That’s why we agreed as MPs to write a letter on an all-party basis requesting a meeting with the Secretary of State for Education. It’s time to make it clear directly to ministers that we have to reflect British values of tolerance for religion.”

The twin hurricanes that have roiled the UK’s normally placid Jewish waters are not over. But for now it seems that at least for one of them, there is hope that calmer waters lie ahead. (Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 720)