Hamid Patel: Appointment of Ofsted chief a ‘landmark’ for British Muslims
The Star Academies premier is the first Muslim to hold the position of chair in Ofsted’s history. One former colleague spoke of his ‘wisdom’
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Charities and senior education professionals have hailed the appointment of Sir Hamid Patel as the interim chair of Ofsted as a “landmark moment showcasing the incredible contributions British Muslims make to society”.
The education regulatory body recently announced that Patel, who has been an Ofsted board member since 2019, will take up the role for five months after Dame Christine Ryan steps down at the end of March.
Patel is the chief executive of Star Academies, a network of primary and secondary schools that he has led since it was established in 2010. While the multi-academy trust began with a number of Muslim schools in Blackburn, today it operates 36 faith and non-faith schools across the UK, with the majority located in the north of England and the West Midlands.
Ashraf Ali, a partnership manager at the education charity Read Foundation, praised Patel’s efforts to improve education for economically disadvantaged communities.
“Sir Mufti Hamid Patel’s appointment is a landmark moment, showcasing the incredible contributions British Muslims continue to make to wider society, despite facing many challenges,” Ali said. “In my role within the UK education sector at the Read Foundation, I’ve encountered widespread admiration and respect for his dedication, innovative approach, and unwavering commitment to providing inclusive, high-quality education for all.”
Ofsted could not confirm whether Patel had worked as a teacher. The BBC reported in 2023 that his career in education had begun when he took a job at Blackburn with Darwen council in the early 2000s, hoping to help improve the literacy and numeracy of local South Asian taxi drivers. He came up with the idea of running courses at midnight so drivers could fit their learning around work schedules.
Patel took on his first headteacher role at Blackburn’s Tauheedul Islam girls’ high school in 2006 before opening the Tauheedul Islam boys’ high school — the first two members of his Star Academies chain.
While the trust initially worked with Muslim faith schools, in 2016 it began managing struggling secular state schools, the first of which was Highfield, situated in a predominantly white, working-class area of Blackpool. Then, in 2017, Ofsted placed Heysham high school, near Morecambe, Lancashire, under special measures; Patel stepped in to help and, by 2020, the school had received a “good” rating from the regulator.
In an interview with TES in 2023, Patel said he was motivated by “smashing glass ceilings and transforming lives”.
“It’s about seeing young people from poor and troubled backgrounds getting into university or prestigious apprenticeships and succeeding in great careers so that they can change the fortunes of the towns they grew up in,” Patel said.
“Everything starts with education. Our aspirations for a powerful knowledge economy or a world-beating National Health Service depend on the quality of education we provide.”
Speaking about the current school system, Patel told the paper that many of the issues affecting education stemmed from outside schools. He pointed to a lack of access to mental health services for children, under-investment in youth services, limited support for families in crisis and inadequate resources for children with special educational needs or disabilities.
“Addressing these problems is the key to ensuring that schools can do their best to make learning challenging and memorable for all pupils,” Patel said.
Patel was knighted in 2021 for his services to education. That same year, Eton College approached Star Academies, asking it to be a partner in the opening of three new sixth-form colleges in Oldham, Middlesbrough and Dudley with the aim of helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to secure places at top UK universities.
Abuse on social media
Patel, who is thought to be the first Ofsted chair from a religious school background, was subject to a barrage of far-right abuse on social media following his appointment. Dr Wajid Akhter, the newly elected secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said he was “deeply concerned by the prejudiced attacks directed at [Patel], which are clearly motivated by his Muslim identity”.
“It is profoundly disappointing that such a distinguished educational leader should face bigotry simply because of his faith,” he said. “Such Islamophobic rhetoric undermines our shared British values of fairness and equality of opportunity.
“These attacks are part of a wider pattern of Islamophobia targeting British Muslims in public life, fuelled by social media, rightwing media outlets, and politicians who seek to stoke division. The repeated vilification of British Muslims in prominent positions must be challenged to ensure that our society remains inclusive and just.”
Dame Alison Peacock, chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, said she had worked alongside Patel on several occasions, including when they were commissioners on the Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools project. The project explored how disinformation and misinformation affected the lives of young people, finding that girls and young people who received free school meals appeared to have higher rates of receptiveness to conspiracy theories.
“He always demonstrates wisdom and a keenness to learn and to listen, combined with a gentle, kind humour,” said Peacock. She added that Patel was “doing important work”.
Patel declined to comment.
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