COUNTER TERROR AWARDS
Counter Terror Business talks to Anne Bell, a Subject Specialist at the PSHE Association – the national body for PSHE education, winners of a recent Counter Terrorism Education award for their preventative education work under Home Office BSBT funding
ADDRESSING EXTREMISM IN PSHE EDUCATION T
he topic of extremism and the radicialisation of children and young adults has taken on new importance during lockdown. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi warned a few months ago that the coronavirus lockdown may have led more individuals to become radicalised as they spend more time online. Counter Terrorism Policing itself warned in April that the impact of coronavirus and social isolation could make some of society’s most vulnerable people more susceptible to radicalisation, as the number of people referred to the Prevent programme has fallen. Merging two previous awards, the Counter Terrorism Project Award and the Education Project Award, the Counter Terrorism Education Award aims to recognise a governmental organisation or public/private partnership which has developed and implemented an effective counter terrorism strategy or awareness campaign.
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COUNTER TERROR BUSINESS MAGAZINE | ISSUE 43
The 2020 winner of the Counter Terrorism Education Award is the PSHE Association. Recognised for its counter extremism training programme, aimed at providing teachers with the confidence and skills to address key extremism-related topics in the classroom to bring into PSHE lessons, the programme also helps equip pupils with better awareness and understanding of extremist behaviour. A bespoke evaluation survey, carried out by the Home Office’s Building a Stronger Britain Together programme, found that the training and supporting resources led to significantly increased levels of confidence and improved skills in covering extremism-related topics in the classroom among teacher participants. Here, we speak to Anne Bell of the PSHE Association about preventative education and a school-wide approach to incorporating radicalisation into teaching. E
