From July this year the Counter-Terrorism and
Security Act 2015 placed a legal duty on schools to
'prevent people from being drawn into terrorism' - a
central plank in the Government's Prevent agenda.
It is a theme that the Prime Minister returned to
at the 2015 Conservative Party conference when
he identified confronting terrorism and extremism
as the 'big social reform in our mission to rebuild
Britain as an even greater country'.
Our survey suggests that a significant proportion
of schools are concerned about the complex and
significant requirements placed upon them by this
legislation, with only 26% feeling positive or very
positive about discharging this duty, and 29% feeling
negative or very negative.
When we probed into the potential reasons one
in five (21%) highlighted concerns over training
suggesting schools clearly need help identifying good
quality training providers. While the basic Prevent
duty may be covered within general safeguarding
training, for other staff, including the designated
safeguarding lead, WRAP training or other more
comprehensive training may be required.
Effective inter-agency working is also crucial if
schools are to successfully discharge their duty
but according to our survey 21% of school leaders
felt limited access to appropriately skilled local
authority staff was one of the key issues that needed
addressing.
Prevent in the classroom
10%
20%
30%
40%
0%
3%
Very
positive
23%
Positive
40%
Neither
negative/
positive
Very
negative
5%
24%
Negative
5%
Don't
know/
unsure
Q: What do you consider the greatest
implementation issues in discharging this duty?
11%
12%
21%
21%
21% 7%7%
Identifying
appropriate training
for staff
Obtaining
appropriate, skilled
local authority
staff
Staff inability to spot
extremism warning
signs
Lack of
parental
cooperation No major
issues
Other
Lack
of IT
tools to
control
websites
Q: How do you feel about your ability to discharge your
new legal duty to 'prevent people from being drawn into
terrorism' which came into force this year?
Base: 1292 respondents
Page 10 | school leaders survey 2015