Schools’ compliance with the Prevent counter-extremism duty should be monitored by an “independent oversight function”, and staff need improved training to meet it, a government-commissioned review has found.
The review by William Shawcross warned of “ambiguity” over how schools’ compliance with the duty is monitored. Some frontline school staff also need “strengthened training on the causes of radicalisation and the ideological nature of terrorism”, it found.
Introduced in 2015, Prevent requires teachers to identify pupils at risk of radicalisation and report incidents they believe are linked to extremism or terrorism.
Education settings are the most common source of referrals to the programme, accounting for 36 per cent, or 2,305 referrals in the year to March 31 2022.
