Frontline staff in schools may need “strengthened training” on the causes of radicalisation while more “independent oversight” could improve schools’ compliance with the Prevent counter-terror programme, according to a new review.
The Independent Review of Prevent report praised the way Prevent was “absorbed... within existing safeguarding processes” at schools and acknowledged the “difficulty for frontline staff in identifying radicalisation-related concerns”.
But the report author, William Shawcross, wrote that although there was evidence of “good working relationships between schools and Prevent”, other evidence suggested some frontline staff required extra training.
The report adds that this is “particularly relevant following the number of schoolchildren who travelled, or attempted to travel, to Syria to join Islamic State”.
The review expresses concern that not all staff will be “sufficiently adept” at spotting some of the subtler forms of radicalisation risk in children, for example, ideology or ideas that might drive them to terrorism.
The review adds that schools are not “formally monitored” for compliance with Prevent, with this falling under the remit of Ofsted and the Department for Education, which, it says, “largely take a reactive approach with issues alerted to them”.
The report says it considers this approach “a potential risk for effective Prevent delivery” and suggests an “independent oversight function to strengthen compliance”.
However, headteachers’ unions were sceptical about the need for this: James Bowen, director of policy at the NAHT school leaders’ union, said schools already take their work on the Prevent duty “very seriously” as part of their wider safeguarding duties.
He also expressed concern about what might be meant by an additional “independent oversight”.
Mr Bowen said: “The current Ofsted framework that schools are inspected against already makes specific reference to the Prevent strategy. What we don’t need are further layers of accountability in schools that duplicate work already being done by others.
“Great care needs to be taken around this so that we don’t introduce new layers of bureaucracy and accountability when what schools actually need is support.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, agreed: “The staff involved are teachers, not experts in the ideological nature of terrorism, and to place them under a greater level of oversight is unduly onerous.
“There is a tendency to place more and more responsibilities and duties on schools, and it is simply not realistic to do this.”
Prevent, which was first devised in 2003 but expanded in 2011, was brought in as part of the government’s policy on preventing violent extremism. The initial strategy said that teachers need to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.
The strategy was met with some controversy, with a report previously warning that it was targeting pupils who are “nowhere near being drawn into terrorism” and risks violating their human rights.
Teachers have previously stressed issues with the training they have received under the programme, with more than two-fifths of teachers saying their training lasted an hour or less, according to a survey in 2016.
According to Home Office data published last month, schools are also making the highest number of referrals to the Prevent scheme for the first time.
Not enough to tackle ‘non-violent extremism’
In the year to March 2022, there were 6,406 referrals to Prevent. The education sector made the highest number of referrals (2,305 or 36 per cent), replacing the police, which made up 28 per cent (1,808) of the total.
Overall, the review has found that the programme is not doing enough to tackle “non-violent Islamist extremism”.
William Shawcross, former chair of the Charity Commission, was ordered to conduct the review by former home secretary Priti Patel in 2019. It concludes that Prevent “is not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism” and “has a double standard when dealing with the Extreme Right-Wing and Islamism”.
The government has accepted all 34 recommendations made in the 188-page report.
The Home Office said it would “overhaul” Prevent in the fight against radicalisation and that the home secretary had “committed to delivering wholesale and rapid change” across the programme.
Home secretary, Suella Braverman, who is expected to make a statement about the findings in the Commons later, said: “Prevent will now ensure it focuses on the key threat of Islamist terrorism.
“As part of this more proportionate approach, we will also remain vigilant on emerging threats, including on the extreme right.
“This independent review has identified areas where real reform is required. This includes a need for Prevent to better understand Islamist ideology, which underpins the predominant terrorist threat facing the UK.
“I wholeheartedly accept all 34 recommendations and am committed to quickly delivering wholesale change to ensure we are taking every possible step to protect our country from the threat posed by terrorism.”
