Prevent - how well maintained schools implement their duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. Estyn. February 2020 

References to the GOT Project which can be found in the Estyn thematic review of Prevent in the schools of Wales:

34 A few schools in the sample make good use of external resources when dealing directly with issues about radicalisation and extremism, such as Philosophy for Children (P4C), Extreme Dialogue and Handling Difficult Conversations and the primary and secondary sector resources through the ‘Getting on Together’ (GOT) project. However, many schools are not aware of the range of classroom resources available to them including those on Hwb, such as the ‘Trust me Cymru’ resources. Teachers told us that they frequently have to produce their own materials for this topic area. 

37 One consortium though has begun to work more closely with practitioners and external partners to progress a number of key areas identified within its Equity and Wellbeing strategy. These include building pupil resilience through improving awareness about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)12, creating safe spaces (for seeking support) within schools, and the development of a new humanities curriculum and religious education framework aimed at putting in place a curriculum that is objective, critical and inclusive. As part of the Skills Challenge Certificate, teachers also have the opportunity to get support in teaching a global citizenship challenge brief on extremism, through the ‘GOT’ project. For example, one school in the region is actively working on projects which link Prevent themes into their religious education lessons. 

The main findings and recommendations are produced here without change or omission:

Main findings

1 There is clear and comprehensive guidance in place for schools regarding their duties for Prevent under the UK Government’s CONTEST strategy, and the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (the Act). The Welsh Government has provided guidance for schools in Wales, which includes ensuring that all school staff have been trained to understand their duties to support pupils, to refer onwards pupils who may be at risk of being drawn into radicalisation or extremism, and to use the curriculum to help pupils develop the skills necessary to become resilient and engaged citizens. 

The work of schools 

2 Schools have a key role in identifying and supporting pupils that are identified as being at risk of exploitation. In the majority of schools surveyed, leaders have a secure understanding of their role and responsibilities to safeguard pupils, including with regard to radicalisation and extremism. In a minority of schools, leaders do not perceive radicalisation and extremism as relevant to their school or surrounding area. This lack of attention to Prevent means that staff in these schools may miss an opportunity to identify and address early concerns about a pupil. 

3 Schools play a key part in safeguarding young people from potentially radicalising influences. Their effective use of the Prevent referral pathways demonstrates how partners can work together to keep young people safe. Contacts from schools in Wales to the Wales Extremism and Counter-Terrorism Unit (WECTU) and to local authorities regarding Prevent are the second highest source for both informal advice requests and for referrals, and these are generally made in a timely manner. Referrals from schools include a wide range of issues such as concerns regarding radical Islam, the extreme right wing, and increasingly individuals attracted to extreme violence with unclear ideologies, known as the Columbine effect. 

4 Racist language, bullying and inter-racial conflict between pupils can be important indicators of radical or extremist views. Local authorities are expected to collect data about bullying within schools, including racially motivated bullying, but the data available does not always reflect what is happening on the ground. This is because a minority of schools avoid designating incidents of bullying as racist. 

5 In most cases, the referral of pupils to the Channel panel works well, with schools being consulted and involved in the development of the subsequent support and action plan. However, in a few cases, schools have not been included in the development of these plans or involved in any follow up support activity. Neither have they been kept abreast of the pupil’s wellbeing or progress, even when the pupil remains full time at the school. 

6 All schools are required to have in place an emergency plan that sets out how it will respond to and manage unexpected events that represent a risk to its staff and pupils, to its buildings and site, and to its ability to conduct its day to day business. This includes how it will respond to any form of threat or emergency that requires its 

Prevent - how well maintained schools implement their duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 

building and site to be secured. School ‘lockdown’ procedures are currently in development across Wales. In partnership with a few schools and local authorities, WECTU has developed a model guidance for assessing school premises, leading to the formation of a risk-based plan, responsive to each school’s setting. 

7 Under article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)3, and The School Councils (Wales) Regulations 2005,4 all schools are required to have in place mechanisms that allow young people to be consulted, and these opportunities are an important component to building a safe school. In a minority of schools, pupils say that these arrangements are not robust enough, and are often superficial and do not properly engage with their real concerns. On the other hand, in the majority of schools, pupils say that they have a number of opportunities to express their views and feelings at school. Where pupils are not listened to or taken seriously, their concerns about any risky behaviours or expressions of radical or extremist ideas that might arise at school are less likely to be brought to the attention of school leaders. 

The key role of the curriculum  

8 An important element of a school’s duties under the Act5 lies in the role of the school and its curriculum in the education of pupils in citizenship, as well as how pupils might safeguard themselves from those influences and pressures that might seek to exploit them. Most schools in the sample do not do enough to ensure that their curriculum does this, largely because teachers do not have easy access to appropriate support, training and guidance. 

9 Welsh Government guidance6 highlights the important role of a whole-school approach to enabling pupils to develop the knowledge, skills and understanding that serves to safeguard them from exploitative practices. The school’s curriculum, policies, pastoral support and ethos can all contribute to establishing an environment that enables or challenges exploitative practices and the attitudes that condone them. In order to achieve this, teachers need to be confident that they are able to handle sensitive and contentious issues that might arise during the school day. Although schools have been well supported in understanding their duties under the Act, there has been less guidance about how to integrate this work into the curriculum. 

10 Schools have not been provided with enough support or challenge to help them develop their curriculum in this area. Local authorities and consortia have not worked together well enough for the development of curriculum support for the inclusion of 

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3 Article 12 1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child (United Nations, 1989). 

4 The governing body of a school must establish a school council, the purpose of which is to enable pupils to discuss matters relating to their school, their education and any other matters of concern or interest and to make representations on these to the governing body and the head teacher (National Assembly for Wales, 2005). 

5 For further detail see sections 58, and 64 of the Revised Prevent Duty: Guidance for England and Wales (HM Government, 2015) and Section 4.1 of the Welsh Government (2016a) guidance for schools and other education providers Respect and resilience: Developing community cohesion. 

6 For further detail see section 4.1 of the Welsh Government (2016a) guidance for schools and other education providers Respect and resilience: Developing community cohesion; and p11 and 14 of Personal and Social Education Framework for 7 to 19-year-olds in Wales (Welsh Assembly Government, 2008).   

Prevent - how well maintained schools implement their duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015

citizenship aspects that build resilience within pupils. For example, this aspect has not been included well enough in developmental work with pioneer (now quality improvement) schools to develop it within the health and wellbeing area of learning and experience. Support from most consortia has been generic. However, one regional consortium has taken a more proactive approach to supporting schools in its region to develop this aspect of their curriculum. 

11 A few schools in the sample make good use of external resources when dealing directly with issues about radicalisation and extremism. However, many schools are not aware of the range of classroom resources available to them including those on Hwb. Teachers told us they frequently have to produce their own materials for this topic area. 

12 By taking a whole-school approach to this area of learning, the key messages can be reinforced across the curriculum and across school years. Where learning experiences are supported by external agencies as part of a whole-school approach, they are more effective in changing attitudes and behaviour. Where schools’ planning is less coherent, they lose opportunities to consolidate pupils’ learning and develop their skills, attitudes and values. 

13 The most effective schools have mapped their curriculum well with clear indicators to where opportunities to build pupil resilience have been included in many subject areas and covered successively during each school year. Where issues around extremism, radicalisation and terrorism are taken seriously, the curriculum is used creatively to help pupils explore their behaviours, beliefs, and ethical values. In particular, good PRUs and local authority maintained special schools are able to use this learning to better support the specific needs of their pupils, in particular those most at risk of being subject to inappropriate influences. 

14 Many of those interviewed for the survey think that teaching about these issues is a specialist role. Many of these teachers also think issues of radicalisation and extremism are remote from their locality and their pupil population. They perceive the risk to their pupils as minimal and think it does not warrant a focus within the curriculum. 

15 All maintained schools include in their curriculum opportunities to learn about other cultures and religions, and to learn about the impact of oppressive political regimes. These opportunities are usually through personal and social education and humanities subject areas. However, the coverage of such issues at subject level can avoid more difficult issues such as exploring what leads to oppressive political ideologies and inter-racial conflict. In a minority of schools, Islam is not included in the religious education curriculum, for a variety of reasons. Where schools are less effective in engaging in the more difficult or sensitive areas, this limits the opportunities for the development of critical thinking and open discussion. 

16 Schools have a duty7 to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical 

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7 For further detail see sections 58, and 59 of the Revised Prevent Duty: Guidance for England and Wales (HM Government, 2015); and section 4.4 of the Welsh Government (2016a) guidance for schools and other education  

Prevent - how well maintained schools implement their duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 development of pupils, as well as the fundamental values of the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Welsh Government guidance specifically focuses on these as national values which underpin British democracy and society, and their contribution to community cohesion, and citizenship. Welsh Government guidance refers only to these ‘values’, and not to ‘British values’, and as a consequence there is little distraction about what British means in this context. 

The work of local authorities 

17 All local authorities surveyed have ensured access to training for schools about their duties under the Act. This training is included in the generic safeguarding training alongside other aspects where children may be at risk of exploitation, such as child sexual exploitation, organised criminal activity such as county lines, and radical and extremist ideologies. Schools have also had access to the Home Office Workshop to Raise the Awareness of Prevent (WRAP) course, which is available through WECTU. This training is usually provided for senior leaders only and it is their role to disseminate the information to other members of staff. Whether this dissemination takes place in schools, and the quality of that training, is not monitored well by local authorities. 

18 All local authorities have senior officers in post who understand their responsibilities under the Act, and have mechanisms in place to provide support and guidance to their schools. They integrate their procedures for managing concerns about radicalisation and extremism into their partnership-based arrangements for managing concerns about safeguarding. They also have in place effective support systems for schools seeking advice and guidance about risks and potential referrals. These requests for advice and guidance are generally not analysed or considered well enough by a minority of the local authorities so as to provide important intelligence about the issues faced by schools. 

19 Local authorities provide a useful range of model policies which cover the broad range of responsibilities for schools under the Act. Nearly all schools in the sample use these model policies well. Only a minority of schools include explicit reference to the risks arising from online radical and extremist materials in their policies which cover ICT. 

20 All local authorities undertake some form of monitoring of how well their schools undertake their safeguarding responsibilities. However, only a minority of local authorities undertake more in depth monitoring of their schools using either the Home Office’s (2018) Prevent Duty Toolkit for Local Authorities and Partner Agencies, or the Welsh Government’s (2016b) Respect and resilience - Developing community cohesion: self-assessment tool 2016. 

9 Prevent - how well maintained schools implement their duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 

Recommendations

Schools should:  

R1 Include risks to pupils from radical and extremist ideologies in the school’s policies, in particular policies that cover ICT and online safety 

R2 Record and report all incidents of racist language and racial bullying properly, and offer suitable support and challenge to victims and perpetrators 

R3 Acknowledge that radicalisation and extremism are real risks to pupils in all schools, and ensure that staff training, policies and the curriculum suitably address these risks 

R4 Ensure that all pupils have a voice and can share with the school any concerns they have about behaviours or expressions of radical or extremist ideas 

Local authorities should: 

R5 Monitor school safeguarding activity relating to duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 using criteria in the Home Office and Welsh Government self-assessment toolkits 

R6 Work with partners to ensure that schools are included in post-referral action plans in order to best support pupils subject to Channel support 

R7 Work with regional consortia to support schools in developing their curriculum to support pupils in building resilience when confronted with radicalised and extremist influences 

R8 Work with partners to ensure that requests for advice prior to referrals are captured in order to provide intelligence about the issues faced by schools 

R9 Improve the tracking of the take up of training by school leaders, governors and teachers, and ensure that the cascading of training is effective 

The Welsh Government should: 

R10 Work with local authorities and regional consortia to support schools to build pupils’ resilience when confronted with radicalised and extremist