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Teachers made one-third of Prevent referrals, NPCC figures show

According to figures released by the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC), teachers made one-third of referrals to the counter terrorism scheme Prevent programme, in 2015. The data found that 1,319 reports cam from the education sector, with the number of overall referrals to the Prevent strategy triple the number of the previous year. The news comes after schools were given a legal duty to prevent students from being drawn into terrorism, including non-violent extremism that can create ‘an atmosphere conducive to terrorism’. The strategy has been met with mixed reviews, with some experts warning that poor training could mean schools are referring students unnecessarily. Commenting on the trend of the results, Rashad Ali, resident senior fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, noted a significant ‘disparity for the threshold for referral’ across schools. He said: “Some disparity is inevitable because we are dealing with something that’s quite subjective. Also, this is a new safeguarding area, therefore there may well be a slightly higher levels of referrals than is normal. But the number of referrals was significantly higher, proportionally, for young people.” The statistics revealed that under-18s accounted for 54 per cent of referrals made under Prevent, while 82 per cent of the total referrals were male. The news follows calls from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) to scrap the strategy, which claimed ‘that the absence of clarity does run the risk of over-reporting and teachers not behaving proportionately because they are concerned about judgments that might be made about them.’ William Baldet, Prevent coordinator for Leicester, argued: “I think we did see a massive spike in referrals because schools did panic and said quickly, ‘Refer, refer, refer,’ where they weren’t quite sure. I think we are now seeing a natural petering out of cases they can deal with internally.” A government spokesperson said: “This government is committed to protecting children and young people from the risks of extremism and radicalisation. The Prevent Duty is entirely consistent with schools’ existing responsibilities, and good schools will already have been safeguarding children from extremism and promoting fundamental British values long before the duty came into force. “School staff should use their professional judgement in identifying children who might be at risk of radicalisation and act proportionately. We have published guidance on the Prevent Duty and made a wide range of advice and materials available to the sector through our Educate Against Hate website.”

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