The Prevent Strategy: teachers, schools and the new security context Dr Liam Gearon With Verity King (former PGCE intern, Oxford, London teacher and MLT student) Abdurrahman Hendek (DPhil student and imam)

Key questions  What is the Prevent Strategy?  What has Prevent got to do with teachers and schools?  What is the wider national/international security context?

What is the Prevent Strategy?

Prevent is part of the UK Government’s established Counter-Terrorism Strategy Current-day UK legal context: Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015

9/11 New York and Washington, 2001 Madrid Bombings, Spain, /7 Bombings, London, 2005 Aftermath of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Continuing conflicts in Libya, Syria, Wider Middle East Charlie Hebdo, Paris, January 2015 Rise of ‘Islamic State’ (ISIL; IS) – to the present

Prevent Strategy:  Published by the UK Government, 2011  Part of counter-terrorism strategy: CONTEST The aim of the Prevent strategy is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

Prevent is one part of CONTEST, the Government's counter-terrorism strategy:  Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks;  Prevent: to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism;  Protect: to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack; and  Prepare: to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack. Home Office (2011) Contest Summary

Prevent also part of Channel initiative: ‘a programme which focuses on providing support at an early stage to people who are identified as being vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.’ Multi-agency approach ‘to protect vulnerable people by: a. identifying individuals at risk; b. assessing the nature and extent of that risk; and c. developing the most appropriate support plan for the individuals concerned’ (UK Gov, 2015)

HM Government (2011) Prevent Strategy HM Government (2011) Prevent Duty Guidance HM Government (2015) Channel Duty Guidance: Protecting vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 All available online.

‘The Prevent strategy addresses all forms of terrorism and we continue to prioritise according to the threat they pose to our national security; the allocation of resources will be proportionate to the threats we face.’ (HM Gov., 2015)

‘The most significant of these threats is currently from terrorist organisations in Syria and Iraq, and Al Qa’ida associated groups. But terrorists associated with the extreme right also pose a continued threat to our safety and security.’ (HM Gov., 2015, emphasis added)

Three specific strategic objectives of Prevent:  respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it;  prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support; and  work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address. (HM Gov. 2015)

Challenges? ‘The Government remains absolutely committed to protecting freedom of speech in England and Wales. But preventing terrorism will mean challenging extremist (and non-violent) ideas that are also part of a terrorist ideology.’ (HM Gov., 2015, emphasis added) ‘Prevent will also mean intervening to stop people moving from extremist groups or from extremism into terrorist-related activity.’ (HM Gov., 2015)

Defining/ delineating British values ‘We define “extremism” as 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 death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas.’ (HM Gov., 2015)

Useful critical discussion, see Robin Richardson (2015) ‘British Values and British Identity: Muddles, mixtures, and ways ahead’ London Review of Education, 13 (2)

Research tends to focus on three areas: I.Theoretical/ philosophical: how can British values be defined? What is extremism/ radicalisation? II.Sociological/ psychological/ political/ economic – what are the underlying causes/ factors which influence radicalisation? III.Policy evaluations: how effective is the Prevent strategy?

Debates often connected with discussions about citizenship, identity, nationalism, patriotism. Main concerns: I.Politicisation and securitisation of education II.Privacy and surveillance III.Scapegoating, targeting particular religious groups/ communities

 What has Prevent got to do with teachers and schools?

Teachers’ Standards Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies  Part One: Teaching  Part Two: Personal and professional conduct

 treating pupils with dignity, building relationships rooted in mutual respect, and at all times observing proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher’s professional position  having regard for the need to safeguard pupils’ well-being, in accordance with statutory provisions  showing tolerance of and respect for the rights of others

 not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs  ensuring that personal beliefs are not expressed in ways which exploit pupils’ vulnerability or might lead them to break the law. Share thoughts... Subject specific contributions?

 Schools face new legal duties to tackle extremism (BBC, 2015) 

 Department for Education (2014) Guidance on promoting British values in schools, nce-on-promoting-british-values-in-schools- published nce-on-promoting-british-values-in-schools- published  [Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development]

Examples of the understanding and knowledge pupils are expected to learn include: an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process an understanding that the freedom to hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law an acceptance that people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination

Examples of actions schools can take to promote British values are to: include in suitable parts of the curriculum - as appropriate for the age of pupils - material on the strengths, advantages and disadvantages of democracy, and how democracy and the law works in Britain, in contrast to other forms of government in other countries ensure all pupils within the school have a voice that is listened to, and demonstrate how democracy works by actively promoting democratic processes such as a school council whose members are voted for by the pupils

[Cont.] Examples of actions schools can take to promote British values are to: use opportunities such as general or local elections to hold mock elections to promote fundamental British values and provide pupils with the opportunity to learn how to argue and defend points of view consider the role of extra-curricular activity, including any run directly by pupils, in promoting fundamental British values

Prevent duty guidance HM Government 2015  Guidance for specified authorities in England and Wales on the duty in the Counter- Terrorism and Security Act 2015 to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.  /pdfs/ukdsiod_ _e n.pdf /pdfs/ukdsiod_ _e n.pdf

Risk assessment 67. Specified authorities are expected to assess the risk of children being drawn into terrorism, including support for extremist ideas that are part of terrorist ideology. This should be based on an understanding, shared with partners, of the potential risk in the local area.

Staff training 70. Specified authorities should make sure that staff have training that gives them the knowledge and confidence to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism, and to challenge extremist ideas which can be used to legitimise terrorism and are shared by terrorist groups. They should know where and how to refer children and young people for further help. Prevent awareness training will be a key part of this.

IT policies 71. Specified authorities will be expected to ensure children are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet in school, including by establishing appropriate levels of filtering.

 What is happening in your schools about Prevent?  Discussion point/ prepare questions for school-based scenarios (Verity) and mosque- focused contexts (Abdurrahman)

 What is the wider national/international security context?

Prevent is not unique to the UK: The 9/11 Commission. (2004). The 9/11 Commission final report, Bakker, E. (2015) ‘EU Counter-radicalization Policies: A Comprehensive and Consistent Approach?’, Intelligence and National Security: A Decade of EU Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence: A Critical Assessment, Volume 30, Issue 2-3, pp A Decade of EU Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence: A Critical AssessmentVolume 30Issue 2-3

Liam Gearon (2015) Guest Editor Special Issue British Journal of Educational Studies, 63 (3) Education, Security and Intelligence Studies

Articles in the Special Issue:  Contextual history of intelligence agencies in education – MI5, MI6, GCHQ in the UK; CIA, FBI and related US agencies  Radicalisation in education Radicalisation in education  The ‘Trojan horse’ affair in Birmingham schools The ‘Trojan horse’ affair in Birmingham schools  Intelligence and security in UK universities Intelligence and security in UK universities  Intelligence and security training Intelligence and security training  Civil preparedness for nuclear war Civil preparedness for nuclear war

 Various kinds of intelligence—military, political, economic, educational, environmental, social and cultural—provide important information for policy decisions.

 Linda Risso (2014) Propaganda and Intelligence in the Cold War  Widening and deepening of both the sphere and focus of security and intelligence concerns, from military to cultural

Five ‘Intelligence Collection Disciplines’ (INTs) (see, for example, Lowenthal et al. 2015) Sources descriptions available, open-source from FBI (2015)

Liam Gearon (2015) Guest Editor Special Issue British Journal of Educational Studies, 63 (3) Education, Security and Intelligence Studies