Prevent in education settings
Helping schools and colleges to meet their duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015.
Educational establishments are required to have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. This is known as the 'Prevent duty'.
Risks and responsibilities
Children and young people can be exposed to extremist ideology. This can hinder their social development and educational attainment alongside the risk that they could support or take part in an act of violence.
Schools have a legal duty to safeguard vulnerable individuals. Protecting children from the risk of radicalisation should be seen as part of a school's wider safeguarding duties, in the same way as protecting children from other forms of harm, eg drugs, gangs, neglect and sexual exploitation. Schools have a role to play in:
- challenging extremist narratives and the intolerance that underpins them
- creating ‘safe space’ environments where debate and discussion is encouraged and students feel confident to share opinions and ask questions
- considering the impact of international and local events on students
- understanding how to support vulnerable individuals
- building the resilience of students and of their communities
- allowing grievances to be aired
Prevent awareness training for teachers and school staff
Our Prevent team can provide advice and support local schools and colleges in:
- briefing senior leadership teams or governors on how they might respond to changes in legislation and satisfy Ofsted requirements
- assisting with curriculum design to provide specific learning opportunities that challenge extremist narratives and promote the exchange of ideas, critical analysis and tolerance
- assisting with organising relevant external speakers and student workshops
The Prevent team also delivers training to help staff to understand and recognise vulnerabilities that can lead to radicalisation, and make appropriate referrals. Our free, 90-minute training session explores how radicalisation and extremism can take root and develop, what you can do to prevent it and, most importantly, how your concerns about a vulnerable individual can be appropriately shared in order to access specialist support.