Half of radicalisation referrals come from schools, figures show

Schools Week is reporting that the number of referrals made by the education sector to the government’s anti-radicalisation scheme, Channel, has dramatically increased from 20 in 2012/13 to 424 last year.

However, experts are warning that an ‘uncomprehensive’ roll-out of training means teachers lack an understanding of when pupils should be referred. Since July, teaching staff have been legally bound to ‘take steps to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’.

Zafar Ali, chairman of governors at IQRA Slough Islamic Primary School, in Berkshire, said: “There is little training given to teachers about what forms of radicalisation there are, and what the signs are. So you are getting this knee-jerk reaction because schools are so scared that if they don’t make a referral, they will be found wanting.”

Ali is responsible for providing radicalisation safeguarding training in schools. He said: “The lack of knowledge and understanding of radicalisation [in schools] is . . . stifling freedom of speech to dangerous levels now.”

The Channel programme was activated in 2012, in a bid to provide early support for people identified as being vulnerable to radicalisation. Once referred, referrals are assessed by a board of Channel officers who decide if specialist intervention support, such as de-radicalisation sessions are necessary.

However, Jonathan Russell, political liaison officer at the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank, said the board rejected four in five referrals. Russell contended that this put pupils through a potentially traumatic experience that could be averted by better trained teachers.

“Educating, rather than keeping pupils under surveillance, is the key. A much smaller number [of people] will need to be referred and teachers will need to have a better understanding.”

He said current training on the subject is ‘slow and uncomprehensive’, calling for better ‘training on what constitutes extreme behaviour’.

Data shows that the overall number of children being referred from all sectors has also risen, from 250 in 2012/13 to 856 last year, with half the number coming from education. The figure has increased from 8 per cent to 50 per cent, indicating that more than two pupils are referred every school day.

The increase has arisen amid high profile media coverage of radicalisation in schools, such as the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham and the incidence of three teenage pupils at Bethnal Green Academy, east London, fleeing to Syria.

Amy Cook, a senior researcher who specialises in safeguarding at school support service The Key, highlighted that this publicity has lead to a ‘heightened awareness’.

She said: “The rise in referrals doesn’t necessarily mean that more children and young people are being radicalised, but that school staff are now clearer about what to do if they are worried that a pupil is at risk.”

The Department for Education (DfE) assured it was working with the Home Office to investigate what additional support schools needed to help to tackle radicalisation.

A DfE spokesperson said: “Teachers are well placed to identify concerning behaviour among their pupils and we expect schools to take proportionate steps to protect them from the risks of extremism and radicalisation.”