A governor's guide to understanding the role of the internet in radicalisation and extremism

Understanding the Prevent duty context

We have written this guide in the context of the Prevent duty as set out by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. This makes specified authorities, including schools and childcare providers, responsible for having “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.

The UK Government Home Office published Prevent duty guidance in 2015 which has since been regularly updated. You can read the most up-to-date version on the gov.uk website which complements this guide. This details how schools and childcare providers can protect children and young people from the risk of radicalisation and access appropriate support to help those measures to be effective. Please note that paragraph 71 states “Specified authorities will be expected to ensure children are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the Internet in schools, including by establishing appropriate levels of filtering”

You should read the Prevent duty guidance alongside Keeping learners safe.

It is the responsibility of the school governing body to ensure that their schools are discharging their statutory duties.

What is radicalisation?

The UK Government’s definition of radicalisation, as set out in its Prevent duty advice, is “ the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and forms of extremism leading to terrorism”.

What is extremism?

The UK Government’s Counter-Extremism Strategy, 2015 defines extremism as “ the vocal or active opposition to our shared values. These include democracy and the rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance of other faiths and beliefs. We also consider calling for the death of our armed forces either in the UK or overseas to be extremism”.

What is the difference between radicalisation and extremism?

The key difference between radicalisation and extremism is that radicalisation refers to a process whereas extremism refers to a person’s beliefs. One of the difficulties with the term ‘radicalisation’ is that the end result is not clear. One common understanding is that a person has been radicalised once they hold extremist beliefs. Extremism, therefore, is the product of the radicalisation process. Another widely held belief is that a person has been radicalised once they engage in terrorist activity, picking up extremist beliefs along the way.

The UK Government’s definition of radicalisation (see above) adopts the first understanding: extremist beliefs are the end result of the radicalisation process.

Why should we be concerned about radicalisation?

Radicalisation is a concern both because of its effects on those who might be radicalised and become involved in terrorist-related activity, as well as those who fall victim to terrorist violence. We should also be concerned about radicalisation’s impacts on community cohesion more generally. Terrorist propaganda seeks to create ‘in-group’ and ‘out-group’ identities. This paints the out-group as markedly opposed to the in-group and therefore a threat. In turn, this creates fractures in community cohesion and is used to justify violent action against a dehumanised ‘enemy’.

What are the tactics of radicalisation?

A common tactic is to emphasise the in-group’s good properties and mitigate its bad properties, seeking to do the opposite for the out-group.

Terrorist propaganda then presses this stark identity choice on readers, listeners and viewers, urging them to decide whether or not they identify with the in-group. Such propaganda will assert that those who truly identify with the group will act to further its violent agenda.

Tactics will often include soft-targeting on mainstream websites and social media platforms before signposting to less regulated (or unregulated) platforms and messaging boards (4Chan, Telegram, Gab for instance). Tactics can take many forms in the online space from an Islamist perspective this may entail creating a feeling of injustice that Muslim communities are oppressed across the world and reference current situations (Myanmar, Gaza, Uighurs in China).

This will allow division and create a ‘them and us’ attitude prior to a more targeted approach.  Within the extreme and far right ideology online there is an evolving and increasingly sophisticated presence and radicalisation will often include the use of jokes and humour to break down barriers and attract people with views becoming increasingly negative towards immigration matters, British Muslims and minority ethnic groups often through misinformation or only referring to negative topics and blaming other cultures.

Gaming is also another area that is increasingly used to target vulnerable people through the chat function, but also some games themselves themselves (for example a patch can be downloaded for Minecraft to obtain New Zealand Mosque shooter, Brenton Tarrant's gun.

What can schools and parents and carers do to prevent their learners and their children being radicalised?

One thing that can be done in school and at home is to try to prevent children from seeing the world in simple ‘us’ and ‘them’ terms. Helping children and young people to appreciate and celebrate different cultures is one important way of achieving this. If a child or young person begins ‘othering’ a different ethnic/religious group, highlight its good properties and challenge any homogenisation of that group.

Support that your school could provide for parents and carers includes encouraging them to:  

• listen to their child, discuss and agree the websites they visit, know who their online friends are, and limit the amount of time spent online
• take a look at “A parent and carer’s guide to talking to your child about staying safe online”
• promote and celebrate the positive elements of different religions and cultures
• encourage them to talk about any concerns with teachers at the

Using the internet to counter extremism

Modern communications have enabled extremists to become far more sophisticated at spreading their ideology – acting at a pace and scale not previously seen while targeting specific individuals. For example, Al-Qaeda often focused its communications quite narrowly, frequently using Arabic and closed forums. ISIS, meanwhile, has sought to reach a far wider audience by harnessing the internet, and particularly social media. Its highly professional online content can reach large audiences with the aim of recruiting in significant numbers.

The UK Government’s Counter-Extremism Strategy details ways the internet can be used to present a compelling alternative to extremist ideology. These include challenging the extremist argument and highlighting its simplistic nature, repeatedly exposing the brutality of extremist groups, promoting a positive vision of how faith and national identity can be reconciled, and supporting vulnerable children and young people through participation in real-life activities.

Read more about the Government’s Counter-Extremism Strategy.

The Commission for Countering Extremism has recently called for a review of this guidance.

Questions around the drivers of extremism

There is widespread disagreement amongst academics as to what causes extremism, with the role of the internet an often debated issue. What is generally accepted is that, for the majority of people who share extremist content (or drivers towards extremism), there’s no link suggesting they go on to engage directly in extremism.

The recently published UK Government report Challenging Hateful Extremism explores these themes in detail, as well as outlining positive strategies. 

Further information

UK Government Prevent duty guidance for England and Wales, and Scotland.

Other important legislation covers all areas of school policy and procedure, such as the Equality Act 2010 and 'Keeping learners safe' (under the Education Act 2002).

A detailed breakdown of all legislation that Welsh schools must comply with is provided in the ‘School Governors' guide to the law’.

Training

A Prevent e-learning training package is now available to help meet duty responsibilities under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. This provides an introductory foundation on which to develop further knowledge around the risks of radicalisation and how to support those at risk.   As a governor to challenge their schools and colleges to effectively safeguard their learners you need to be aware of what training is available for headteachers, senior leadership teams in schools and all school staff to ensure that all school staff complete the Prevent e-learning training package.

You may also wish to consider further training resources available within the Prevent training catalogue.

Reporting concerns

If schools become concerned about a learner in their care, they should follow the school or college’s safeguarding processes of Notice, Check and Share with the Designated Senior Person for Child Protection. In addition, any teacher is able to report concerns about an individual who may hold extremist views or be at risk of radicalisation using the All Wales Partners Prevent Referral Form. It may be helpful to discuss concerns with your School Beat Cymru officer or local Prevent officer.

Governors requiring support with any online safety issues, whether it concerns learners, themselves or their organisation, can contact the Professionals Online Safety Helpline. This provides more advice and suggested courses of action for managing online incidents involving members of your school community.

Sources

We gratefully acknowledge the help and support of Stuart MacDonald of the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, Swansea University, in preparing this content.