What is going on in Birmingham’s schools? There are as many answers as there are interested parties. According to predominantly Muslim locals in areas like Alum Rock — where schools are accused of adopting a hardline ethos — it’s an Islamophobic witchhunt, hysteria inspired by the hoax “Trojan Horse” letter which overlooks the fact that pupils are achieving an outstanding education.

According to Ofsted, the school’s inspectorate which not long ago was busy confirming that schools like Park View were indeed outstanding, Birmingham had witnessed “the promotion of a culture which if continued would have made… children vulnerable to extremism” and an education not in line with “British values”.

According to some pupils at Park View, what this boiled down to was an atmosphere of limited freedoms, where teenage girls were forbidden to socialise with boys, and where those who did could expect a home visit from a teacher complaining about their behaviour to their parents.

The investigation frenzy is not over yet. Later this month the Department for Education is expected to publish its report, led — not without controversy — by former Met police counter-terrorism chief Sir Peter Clark. Sources have told me that that investigation is a highly unusual one for the department, conducted behind closed doors by former spooks, a sign that the government indeed takes the allegation of extremism in Birmingham’s schools seriously.

But first Birmingham City Council will have its say. On Friday the Council will publish its key findings into goings on in these Birmingham Schools. What’s interesting about that is that the Council has not exactly been forthcoming in acknowledging the issues. It’s described Ofsted’s findings as a “smear camapaign”, and just last month councillors were reiterating that the Trojan Horse letter was a fake and that there was “no evidence of extremism”. It has been defensive from the start, not least because it seems to have been taking direct advice from Tahir Alam — the chair of the board at Park View who is accused of deliberately infiltrating schools with a specifically conservative Muslim agenda and forcing out obstructive staff. They are not alone though — Ofsted also employed his services as an inspector, revealing the potential for conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency that go way beyond Birmingham’s boundaries.

It’s unlikely that Birmingham will say it found evidence of extremism, not least because there may not have been any. What there has been is a deliberate policy by the government of allowing state schools to run themselves with an increasing degree of autonomy, supposedly in response to the community’s needs. The end result, not surprisingly in a predominantly Muslim area with significant socially conservative values, is…. well the rest is history. But you could say the end result is a tyranny of the majority — will these schools be fair towards teenage girls, teachers who don’t conform, and pupils from other backgrounds? Unlikely.

That’s a serious issue, that goes to the heart of education policy, as much as it does the specific goings on in Birmingham’s schools. And here’s another: does the community in Alum Rock, Small Heath and other predominantly Muslim parts of Birmingham feel more at ease in its role in wider society as a result of the way these allegations have been handled? I seriously doubt it.