Prevent

The Importance of Prevent Duty in Education - Essential Site Skills

Prevent Update: September 2023

As many of you will be aware the Prevent Strategy was refreshed and published 7 September 2023.

The aim of Prevent is to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent also extends to supporting the rehabilitation and disengagement of those already involved in terrorism.


What is the Prevent programme?

The core mission of Prevent is stopping people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The early intervention support provided by Prevent addresses the personal, ideological, and social factors which make people more susceptible to radicalisation.


Prevent Update May 2023

Following the Prevent Train the Trainer event last week please find the latest updates on Prevent  in Slough. 

Please find below the latest flowchart for Prevent referrals. Firstly the online learning has been updated (September 2022) on the Home Office Website. You can access the refreshed training here: Prevent duty training - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Secondly, the DfE has created a tool to help schools better understand how well they meet their Prevent duty responsibilities. The tool can help schools understand how well embedded their Prevent policies and practices are and encourages a cycle of continuous review and improvement. The Prevent self-assessment tool includes:

  • a guide on how to make use of the tool
  • a supporting spreadsheet to help you measure how well embedded policies and practices are

Additional advice and help with the tool is available by signing-up to upcoming webinars from the department that cover:

  • gathering evidence of compliance and effectiveness
  • signposting to other relevant resources, tools and guidance
  • recording outcomes and addressing areas for improvement

New PREVENT resources

LGfL resources have been developed in collaboration with school practitioners, extremism experts, the Department for Education and the Home Office.

They are designed to reflect recent developments around extremism and empower staff to safeguard pupils as part of a whole-school approach to implementing the Prevent duty.

Each section includes short CPD videos to exemplify effective practice, answer questions which schools have asked, and provide top tips, discussion points and real-life case studies. They can be used as part of all-staff training and inset days, or during shorter briefings and individual CPD opportunities. The aim is to build staff confidence, develop practical approaches within and beyond the classroom, manage difficult conversations and promote engagement with parents, carers and the wider school community.

These can be accessed here: Counter-Extremism (lgfl.org.uk)

LGfL and Counter Terrorism Policing have developed a new educational resource, 'Act Early Stories'. The toolkit is aimed at DSLs, PSHE/RSHE leads and youth leaders in secondary schools and out of school settings. 

The activities and lessons aim to raise awareness of exploitation, spark discussion with young people around extremist narratives and promote critical thinking. This new resource hopes to help build staff confidence to promote dialogue to address this difficult subject with young people.

Based on real-life stories around radicalisation, the resource includes videos, ready to use session slides with activities and guidance notes so they can be used by experienced practitioners as well as those who may not have much knowledge of the issues raised. https://national.lgfl.net/digisafe/actearlystories

Protecting students against the threat of extremism and online exploitation can be difficult. Addressing the curriculum through a contextual safeguarding approach can be an effective way to build young people’s resilience to these threats. Embedding the foundational knowledge and skills essential to manage risk requires a holistic approach. This could be through having conversations with young people to reflect on their context and any risk factors they could experience – online or through association with peers or adults – combined holistically with cross-curricular opportunities to build on key safeguarding themes.

How can Act Early Stories help your curriculum address this risk?

Designed to be used across the curriculum and beyond, each story has a video case study and ready-to-use slides featuring icebreakers, conversation starters and cross-curricular activities.

Adopting a Contextual Safeguarding Approach to Radicalisation and the Online Space - Educate Against Hate


Prevent Update October 2022

The Prevent strategy, was published by the Government in 2011, is part of our overall counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, outlining three specific strategic objectives:

  1. Respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it
  2. Prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support
  3. Work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address.

Prevent is an early intervention programme, mobilised locally by a range of partners, which protects individuals targeted by terrorist influences by providing local, multi-agency safeguarding support.

Children are vulnerable to extremist ideology and radicalisation. Similar to protecting children from other forms of harms and abuse, protecting children from this risk should be a part of a schools’ or colleges’ safeguarding approach.

  • Extremism is the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. This also includes calling for the death of members of the armed forces.
  • Radicalisation refers to the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and extremist ideologies associated with terrorist groups.
  • Terrorism is an action that endangers or causes serious violence to a person/people; causes serious damage to property; or seriously interferes or disrupts an electronic system. The use or threat must be designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public and is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause.

Full guidance document can be accessed here: Revised Prevent duty guidance: for England and Wales - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Updated April 2021

Training and resources

The department has published further advice for schools on the Prevent duty. The advice is intended to complement the Prevent guidance and signposts to other sources of advice and support.

  • The Home Office has developed three e-learning modules:
  • Educate Against Hate - Prevent Radicalisation & Extremism is a government website designed to support schoolteachers and leaders to help them safeguard their students from radicalisation and extremism. The platform provides free information and resources to help school staff identify and address the risks, as well as build resilience to radicalisation.

The Prevent duty requires all education providers ‘to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. This includes safeguarding children, young people and adult learners from extremist ideologies and radicalisation.

Most importantly, providers should consider the needs of children, young people and adult learners at each stage of the safeguarding process. Providers should consider radicalisation concerns in line with their existing safeguarding processes, skills and experience. DfE have updated the Prevent Duty and produced a self-assessment for education settings. Please click: The Prevent duty: safeguarding learners vulnerable to radicalisation - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Prevent duty self-assessment tool for schools - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The LGfL and Counter Terrorism Policing have also developed a new educational resource, 'Act Early Stories'. The toolkit is aimed at DSLs, PSHE/RSHE leads and youth leaders in secondary schools and out of school settings. Based on real-life stories around radicalisation, the resource includes videos, ready to use session slides with activities and guidance notes so they can be used by experienced practitioners as well as those who may not have much knowledge of the issues raised. https://national.lgfl.net/digisafe/actearlystories


Further details on local prevent contacts:

Referral should be made here:

preventreferralsslough@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk | 01865 555618

Queries can be directed to:

Lubna Hussain lubna.husain@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk  | 07973 203091

Ranjit Benning ranjit.benning@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk | 07970 145236