Preventing Extremism: Understanding Teachers’ Duties

An understanding of the new statutory duty to prevent extremism and what this means practically for teachers An understanding of Ofsted’s expectations when inspecting on this duty Techniques to enhance conversations with young people about sensitive and controversial issues Information about what to do if you have concerns about safeguarding children around Prevent

Prevent is part of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. The aim of Prevent is to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. CONTEST was first introduced in 2005, but Prevent has not been a statutory duty for schools until 2015 In July 2015 the Counter Terrorism and Security Act imposed a duty on schools to demonstrate “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.”

DfE Prevent guidance Robust Safeguarding Procedures Working in Partnership with Local Safeguarding Children Board Work with pupils IT Policies Risk Assessment

Working with Pupils “The Prevent duty is not intended to stop pupils debating controversial issues. On the contrary, schools should provide a safe space in which children, young people and staff can develop knowledge and skills to be able to challenge extremist arguments” DfE 2015 “Schools should be safe spaces in which children and young people can understand and discuss sensitive topics” Home Office, 2015 “We expect schools to explore opportunities in the curriculum to provide counter narratives, for example in English, RE, Citizenship, History and PSHE” Geraint Evans, Ofsted, 2015

Schools need to ensure that: “All pupils understand and appreciate others from different backgrounds with a sense of shared values, fulfilling their potential and feeling part of a community” Explore whether your school has a community cohesion policy or scheme of work. This may include things such as school linking programmes and inviting visitors from the local community to speak to the pupils

“All schools are required to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, accompanied by effective spiritual, moral, social (including the promotion of Fundamental British Values) and cultural development that helps prepare children and young people for life in modern Britain.” Home Office, 2015

▪Democracy ▪Rule of law ▪Individual liberty ▪Mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs Universal Values?

“I’m worried about opening a can of worms!”

Traditional media Parents/carers Family members Friends Social media and the Internet Cultural background Religion Educators Youth leaders Influences

Studies by Jeffcoate (1979) show that nursery children learn not to express negative attitudes in front of adults. They pick up unspoken messages that there are times when they are expected to express what they feel and others when they should not.

How do we start talking about these issues with young children? Discuss the things we all share - our common humanity, our concern for others, our need to be loved, our need to eat and sleep and play and have a home and clothes - all of which can be different. Give young people the opportunity to discuss similarities and differences between people: skin colours, hair textures, facial features, temperaments and abilities, religions and beliefs, family structures and relationships Don’t give a negative message by trying to silence young people, not answering their questions properly or saying the subject isn’t something to be talked about.

Before we begin discussions on sensitive or controversial issues, we need to take time to create a safe space. Work with the young people to set the ground rules for the session. Example Ground Rules Don’t laugh at others’ opinions Own your own values If you disagree with someone do so respectfully Think of the impact of your words on others Be open and honest The Importance of a ‘Safe Space’

Know the issues: Pupil Voice The boys are always making jokes about girls, everyone laughs when I tell them to stop Sometimes people make fun of me because of my accent. What can I do ? Can gay people have babies? Are all Muslims terrorists? My friend’s called Hakima and people call her Pakima. It makes me angry Why are there black people on earth if Adam and Eve were white?

Safeguarding The government considers protecting pupils from radicalisation to be a safeguarding issue. The school does not need a distinct Prevent policy, but should have robust safeguarding policies which should take into account guidance outlined in Working Together to Safeguard Children and Keeping Children Safe in Education. Schools should be logging concerns, so that patterns can be identified. Schools need to work in partnership with their Local Safeguarding Children’s Board and make sure that their policies and procedures are aligned. Check your school’s safeguarding policy for mentions of protection from radicalisation. Find out who your school’s safeguarding lead is, investigate if there is a log book where concerns are recorded, find out about your LSCB

– schools must ensure that children are safe from terrorist and extremist material, by ensuring that suitable filtering is in place. Schools should also be teaching pupils and informing parents about internet safety. – schools need to ensure that visitors are not dangerous, espousing harmful ideas and that their values are in line with the schools’. – schools need to ensure that their facilities are not utilised by groups who are promoting extremist ideas. Check your school’s IT policy and Visitors’ policy for mentions of protection from radicalisation. IT Policies Visitors to the school Hiring of school premises

Ofsted New inspection framework from September When inspecting the effectiveness of leadership and management, inspectors will consider: the effectiveness of safeguarding the work to raise awareness and keep pupils safe from the dangers of abuse, sexual exploitation, radicalisation and extremism, and what the school does when it suspects that pupils are vulnerable to these issues. If the school is found inadequate in this area, its overall judgement will be inadequate. Any adult within the school can be asked by the Ofsted inspector "If you have concerns about a child being drawn into terrorism, what would you do?"

“Vocal, or active opposition to Fundamental British Values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We also include, in our definition of extremism, calls for the death of members of our armed forces whether in this country or overseas.” There is a wide range of different extremist individuals and organisations, including Islamists, the far right and others.

Go and speak with the safeguarding lead at school If there is significant cause for concern, the safeguarding lead will contact local Prevent officer The Prevent officer will make an assessment and see if they feel the pupil needs referring to Channel A multi-agency, Channel Panel will be convened to devise a bespoke action plan for the pupil in partnership with the school What happens if I have concerns about a pupil?

Case Studies 1. Would you consider this cause for concern? 2. If you consider it cause for concern, how do you think the school should respond? If not, why not? Two teenagers come to school on non-uniform day wearing English Defence League (EDL) hoodies. An 11 year old boy likes to link all of his work to his Pakistani heritage. When asked to write about a horse, he writes about a Pakistani horse. When asked to write about a role model, he chooses a Pakistani role model. The school runs a t-shirt design competition. A 10 year old boy enters a t-shirt covered with machine guns, swastikas, dead bodies and blood. Inside the swastikas are the numbers 18 (code for Adolf Hitler) and 14 (code for 14 words, a white supremacist phrase).

Case Studies 1. Would you consider this cause for concern? 2. If you consider it cause for concern, how do you think the school should respond? If not, why not? A 7 year old boy writes "ISIS, ISIS, ISIS" and says that his older brother has spoken about how he is going to become a king, and he will need guns and to hurt people to become king. Pupils are asked to write an essay in the style of a world leader and a pupil produces an essay which contains anti-American content, such as "death to America" A 15 year-old Muslim girl who has not previously shown signs of being particularly religious comes back to school after the summer holidays wearing hijab and talking openly about her faith.