Understanding The Impact of Extremism

Radicalisation refers to the gradual social process into extremism and is often applied to explain changes in ideas or behaviour. A distinction exists between the cognitive and behavioural dimensions of radicalisation, with the latter referring to engagement in extremist activities.

Violent extremism is the beliefs and actions of people who support or use violence to achieve ideological, religious or political goals. This includes terrorism and other forms of politically motivated and communal violence.

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 contains a duty on specified authorities to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. This is also known as the Prevent duty. This applies to many settings, including places of education.

So what are your duties?

To comply with the Prevent duty, providers need to:

• Assess the risks associated with Prevent and draw up a plan to mitigate these.
• Have effective welfare support systems, linking to DfE Prevent coordinators, local authorities or the police if necessary.
• Have systems for assessing and mitigating risks around external speakers and events on campus, while maintaining the existing duty to promote freedom of speech.
• Arrange ongoing Prevent training for relevant staff.
• Have an IT usage policy, and where appropriate a research policy, which cover the Prevent duty.
• Engage with students and ensure that students’ unions and societies are aware of policies concerning activities on campus.

This training will support your organisation meeting these duties.

This course has been created and delivered by Milly Wildish, a child protection specialist and a former counter terrorism specialist police officer, who has worked in criminal and education settings. Milly is a national safeguarding panel member and is currently engaged in a large-scale independent investigation, into current and historical allegations of child abuse.