Claim: Sir Hamed Patel, a hard-line Muslim, will be in charge of the curriculum for British children.
Fact: Sir Hamed Patel is the interim Chair for Ofsted until a replacement is found. He has no role in deciding what British children learn.
On 14 March 2025, a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted an image (archive) of Sir Hamid Patel, an educational expert from the United Kingdom. The post is captioned, “Hamid Patel is the new chairman of Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) in England. Everything that British children learn in schools from now on will go through him. Just wow.”
Who is Sir Hamid Patel?
Sir Hamed Patel is an educational expert from the UK. He has been a board member of Ofsted since 2019 and is presently also the Chief Executive of Star Academies, a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) that runs a network of primary and secondary schools. In recognition of his service to education, Patel was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2015 and awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021.
What is Ofsted?
Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, a non-ministerial government agency that inspects and regulates services providing education, care, and skills for learners and young people.
It was established in 1992 following the Education Reform Act (1988). Its primary role is to monitor and evaluate the standards of education and care in schools, colleges, and other learning institutions. Through regular inspections, Ofsted assesses educational institutions and publishes detailed reports, which are accessible to the public. These evaluations help parents, educators, and policymakers make informed decisions about educational institutions. Ofsted then uses these reports to work with institutions to implement improvements. If institutions fail to develop, Ofsted can then place them under special measures until improvements are made.
Finally, Ofsted is managed by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. According to the government of the UK website, the Chief Inspector is, “statutorily responsible for Ofsted’s inspection and regulatory work. He is able to draw on the full range of our inspection findings to report on the quality of education, children’s services, and skills, locally and nationally. He is responsible to both the Ofsted Board and to Parliament for the organisation, staffing and management of Ofsted, and for ensuring the efficient and effective use of our resources.” The current Head Chief is Sir Martyn Oliver.
Fact or Fiction?
On 11 March 2025, it was announced that Sir Hamid Patel would be stepping in as interim Chair of the Ofsted Board until a successor is found for Dame Christine Ryan, the previous Chair who stepped down from the role this year. The announcement noted that Patel, who has been a board member of Ofsted since 2019, would be the interim Chair for the next five months. Given his interim status, Soch Fact Check finds the viral X (formerly Twitter) post’s claim that Patel is the “new chairman of Ofsted” to be false.
Additionally, according to the viral post, the primary concern regarding Patel’s current role is that “everything that British children learn in schools from now on will go through him”. This is an inaccurate portrayal of Patel’s role as interim chair, as not only is his role temporary, but His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, is statutorily responsible for Ofsted, not the Chair.
While this complaint seems vague, it is echoed in other posts on several social media platforms in which users worried that Patel will have control over the curriculum taught to students. In a Facebook post, a user lamented, “Patel has the authority to dictate which subjects are taught in England’s schools.” In an X (formerly Twitter) post, another user claimed, “Control their curriculum and you control the future of a people.”
Regarding Patel’s control over the curriculum, Ofsted has no role in establishing what is taught to British students. The agency only monitors and inspects the standards of education and care provided in schools and colleges. In fact, the curriculum “is set by the Westminster Government through the Department for Education (DfE), led by the Secretary of State for Education,” according to a research report by the House of Commons in 2024. The current Secretary of State for Education is Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP.
This was further verified by Reuters after they reached out to the Department for Education (DfE) for comment and received an email from a DfE spokesperson who confirmed that Ofsted did not set the curriculum, but the DfE did.
Sir Hamid Patel has received support since his appointment faced backlash on social media, with celebrated head teacher and education reform expert Katharine Birbalsingh CBE writing an article in The Spectator in his defense, and Jake Berry, former Chairman of the Conservative Party, defending his appointment on GBNews.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the viral claim on X here and here.
Conclusion: Sir Hamid Patel is not the new Chair of Ofsted. He has been appointed to serve as the interim Chair for the next 5 months until a replacement is appointed. Additionally, the Chair of Ofsted does not play a role in what British students learn, nor does everything taught to British students go through the Chair.
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