Headteacher at Springfield Junior School, Birmingham The row over the appointment of Mrs Noshaba Hussain as headteacher of the

Springfield Junior School in Sparkhill, Birmingham continues with no end in sight (see British Muslims Monthly Survey for September 1993). Mrs Hussain was appointed in unusual circumstances whilst having had no paid primary school teaching experience and being under investigation concerning financial irregularities at the Muslim Women's Training Centre which she used to manage. There has been a petition signed by 50 parents of pupils in the school who have expressed their concern over the situation. This has been sent to the Education Department and was organised by a local councillor who is a Muslim, Raghib Ahsan. Councillor Ahsan has stated that the panel which appointed Mrs Hussain contained only three people; Mohammed Yussouf, the chairman, Aziz Hassan, his nephew and Miss Millie Brown, who has resigned from the board of governors since the interview. It is further reported that the appointment was made by a majority of two to one. Finally, although there were 19 applicants for the post, only two were called for interview. Councillor Ahsan has joined in the call for a full inquiry into Mrs Hussain's suitability, the method by which she was appointed and the alleged financial irregularities. Prof Tim Brighouse, the newly-appointed Director of Education in Birmingham, asked Mrs Hussain to see him to discuss her situation but she refused. The Director then met with the Chairman of the governing body where it was agreed that Mrs Hussain should be suspended to allow a full investigation to take place. Under the Education Reform Act 1988 governors and the Education Department must agree over a headteacher's suspension. It appears that agreement was reached at the meeting but later the Chairman of the governing body withdrew his agreement as the letter of suspension was written as though the governors had made the decision to suspend rather than that they had agreed to the wish of the Education Department. Mr Mohammed Yussouf, the Chairman of Governors, said that he was going to appeal to the Secretary of State for Education to intervene, meanwhile, he had instructed Mrs Hussain to remain in post. This meant that she continued to occupy her office whilst the staff, under the guidance of the NUT, declined to accept her authority, as she had been suspended by the Authority, and recognised the deputy head as acting headteacher. At this stage the situation became even more confused as The Birmingham Post revealed (23.10.93) that there had been a series of three advertisements for the post when Mrs Hussain was appointed, the first two carried the standard requirement for appropriate teaching experience but the third, which had apparently not been approved by the Authority and on the basis of which Mrs Hussain was appointed, did not carry any mention of such a requirement. Further, the same newspaper reported that irregularities had been found in Mrs Hussain's record of service which she had thrice been asked to clarify but had declined so to do. It appears that the Authority and Governors were aware that she had only served in British schools on a voluntary basis, however, there would seem to be correspondence from the Authority which suggests that they decided to approve her appointment as they recognised that there is a shortage of teachers from the ethnic minorities. Four days after the initial letter of suspension was received, the Chairman of Governors wrote to Mrs Hussain ordering her to co-operate with the suspension letter from the Authority. She has now done so. The Chairman of the Birmingham Education Committee has met with government ministers to discuss the situation and to ask for their guidance on how to act in such a situation, given that they are the authors of the current legislation. [BMMS October 1993 Vol. I, No. 10, p. 3/4]