Razwan Faraz: Teacher in Trojan horse scandal is back in classroom (2024)

An extremist teacher who lost his job after making hom*ophobic comments is back in the classroom giving advice to teachers, The Times can disclose.

Razwan Faraz, 39, lost his job as deputy head teacher of the multifaith Nansen Primary School after the Trojan horse scandal in Birmingham.

He was one of the key figures linked to the alleged 2014 plot by a group of conservative Muslims to take over several schools, which was laid out in an anonymous letter. The letter described a five-step “tried and tested” process to take over governing bodies and oust head teachers and led to Nansen primary and other local schools being placed in special measures by Ofsted.

Mr Faraz was part of a group of teachers in a Whatsapp group named the Park View Brotherhood in which he referred to gay people as “animals”. In a second conversation in 2013, discussing an article about a shrine in Karachi being used as a meeting place by gay men, he said: “May Allah further expose this and give us the strength to deal and eradicate it.”

He was sacked in 2015 and lost an appeal at an employment tribunal last year after a judge found his comments to have been “demonstrably hom*ophobic”.

He has now rebranded as a “parenting coach” and has been giving advice to teachers in Birmingham. Mr Faraz claims to be working for a charity and has told friends that he has been invited by head teachers to talk at schools.

Describing himself as “the empathetic teacher” and stating that his aim is “developing pupils for a better world”, he has presented workshops and been pictured giving talks to a full classroom of teachers.

He has since deleted promotional material for his talks from social media but in one post said that a head teacher who participated in a workshop had told him: “Our school is your school.” Mr Faraz is also giving workshops to the wider Birmingham community, including for homeless men.

Mr Faraz is the latest figure linked to the Trojan horse scandal to rebrand and renew his efforts to influence teaching. The Times reported last year that Tahir Alam, who was banned from schools after the scandal, had begun holding seminars for parents on sex education.

Mr Faraz was initially one of five school leaders accused of involvement in the scandal who were allowed to return to the classroom after an independent disciplinary panel discontinued the case because government lawyers failed to share crucial evidence.

He had separately been fighting his dismissal at tribunal but due to the other hearings his claim against Birmingham Core Education Trust that he suffered religious discrimination was heard only last year.

Last night counterextremism experts said that those schools which had invited Mr Faraz into their classrooms were failing to follow guidelines set by Prevent, the government counterextremism programme.

Nikita Malik, the director of the centre on radicalisation and terrorism at the Henry Jackson Society, said: “It is disappointing that [Mr] Faraz is involved with parents and teachers, even in an advisory role.

“His previous comments about gay people being eradicated, as well as his claims for unfair dismissal being dropped, means that he should be given no access whatsoever to vulnerable people. Under the Prevent duty, teachers should be especially cautious in taking advice from those we should be protecting our children from.”

Mr Faraz was unable to be reached for comment.

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