CONTENTS

politics first | Corridors
Confronting and defeating
extremism in schools
Angela Rayner, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Shadow Minister for
Women and Equalities and Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne
Extremism has no place in our schools. In the aftermath
of both the Trojan Horse scandal and the rise of racist
bullying post-European Union referendum, we must
remain alert to the risk of our children being radicalised.
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Sensibly, the Government’s counterextremism
strategy - Prevent - states that Islamic
extremism is not the only threat that we need to
counteract. We have seen, across the European
continent, right-wing extremism gaining a
foothold in response to Islamic extremism - they
are different sides of the same coin.
Here, in the UK, we need to be on our guard
against both. The commendable aim of Prevent
is “to stop people from becoming terrorists or
supporting terrorism.” But there are problems
with how that is being implemented.
Statutory guidance demands that schools
“assess the risk of children being drawn into
terrorism, including support for extremist ideas
that are part of terrorist ideology.”
Last summer, the Government forced
schools to have “due regard to the need to
prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.”
Staff, in schools, are required to comply with the
statutory guidance and provide information to
Prevent officers.
But at a time of real cuts in school funding,
staff shortages and the threat of forced
academisation, teachers, alone, cannot be
responsible for ‘policing’ children in their care.
We need an even-handed, holistic approach,
working sensitively with both schools and sixth
form colleges, but also reaching out into all
our communities, to challenge violence and
extremism, wherever it rears its ugly head.
Schools are diverse places for children to
learn and thrive. No child should experience
harassment, abuse or intolerance at school. But
racist bullying remains a reality, even though
many schools have strong anti-bullying and
harassment policies in place.
The actions of various extreme right-wing and
neo-Nazi groups show that, alongside Islamic
extremism, we must also remain vigilant to the
risk of right-wing radicalisation of our children.
Greater emphasis must be given to tackling
the worrying rise in racist and xenophobic
attacks in the aftermath of the EU referendum,
which has been aimed at EU nationals and
members of the BAME community living in the
UK. The True Vision website has seen a 57 per
cent increase in reporting to its website in the
aftermath of the referendum result.
But taking preventative action in the field of
counter-terrorism is fraught with difficulty, even
for highly trained experts.
Teachers should receive vigorous training
to equip them with the knowledge and skills to
identify children at risk of radicalisation. However,
this Government is failing to adequately train
staff. Teachers have specifically criticised the
training videos provided by the Home Office,
calling them “unclear” and “unnecessarily
overly stylised”. And the General Secretary
of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers
has criticised the training as ‘‘poor quality and
sometimes factually incorrect information.”
The House of Commons joint committee on
human rights pressed for an urgent review into
Prevent, citing numerous causes for concern.
Teachers have, overwhelmingly, backed motions
calling for it to be scrapped. There are concerns
that Prevent relies too heavily on racial profiling
and can legitimise Islamophobia.
Even the UN has raised concerns about
Prevent, saying it creates a divisive environment
by further alienating “at risk” children, and
could end up promoting extremism, rather than
countering it.
Failing to tackle those issues in the classroom
will further strain community tensions and only
provide fertile ground for radicalisation. When
it comes to children, we cannot get it wrong.
We need a complete overhaul of the training
provided to teachers - and it needs to be properly
resourced.
But we need to go further.
Firstly, Labour will put human rights at the
centre of its counter-extremism policy. We
need a cohesive and inclusive strategy that
effectively trains teachers to spot signs of
radicalisation, whether Islamic fundamentalism
or right-wing xenophobia.
Secondly, we need a sharper focus on
community projects in schools to create an
inclusive environment for all of our children.
And, above all, we need to promote far
greater engagement and support within religious
communities so that the voices of moderation
are heard loud and clear.
Community and faith leaders, teachers and
elected representatives at every level, all have
a role to play, if we are to tackle the very real
threats we face as a nation.