Teachers have complained that they’re being used to fight against Islamic extremism in schools, likening themselves to “stormtroopers.”
They claim teenagers are staying silent in classroom discussions for fear of being reported for radical views, effectively “shutting down debate” in schools, the conference of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) was told.
“We are really being expected to be the frontline stormtroopers, who listen, who spy, and notify the authorities about students that we may be suspicious of,” said Jan Nielsen, an NUT member from Wandsworth, south London.
The Counter Terrorism and Security Act, which became law in February, puts a responsibility on schools to prevent youngsters falling into the clutches of extemist groups. And Prime Minister David Cameron says schools must also actively promote “British values” and will be judged by the schools’ watchdog Ofsted on how well they teach them.
Ms Nielsen highlighted two recent cases where students had come under suspicion:
– One student was pulled in after prayers on a Friday because children coming out of the prayer room were talking about extremism, despite the fact that the boy had put a strong argument against children joining jihadi groups.
– A boy who applied to go to Pakistan to visit his dying grandfather had his laptop taken from him, it was searched and the head thought it found three examples of boy viewing jihadi websites.
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When the boy was questioned, he said: “How how can I argue against something if I don’t understand what it means.”
Ms Nielsen added: “To the credit of the non-Muslim students they argued ‘why if I want to visit my grandparents in Holland am I not suspicious where as Muslim students are.’”
Shutting down debate
Executive member Alex Kenny said some Muslim pupils were offended by the Prophet Muhammad cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo, but he said – because of the government’s PREVENT strategy – they were unwilling to join debate in case they were labelled extremist.
Mr Kenny told the conference in Harrogate that PREVENT was a “blunt instrument.” It was not needed because radicalised pupils could be dealt with under child protection laws.
He said: “We live in a damaged and volatile world, and like us, young people are trying to make sense of it, like us, they’re trying to come to conclusions about cause, effect and solutions, and like us they want a space to discuss it.
“Schools are places where that discussion, on ethical and political issues should take place, in an environment of enquiry and it may be an environment where young people say things we don’t like, or say things that concern us that we want to address with them, that we want to discuss with them.
“But Prevent conflates a notion of British values and an elastic notion of non-violent extremism that is shutting down that debate.”
He said he was hearing from young teachers that they don’t know whether to open up discussions,and don’t know what to do if students raise things that concern them.”
He added: “We are hearing young people telling teachers that they don’t want to discuss things, that they don’t want to discuss what happened with the Charlie Hebdo shootings, young people who were offended by the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, but saying they don’t want to say it in class, they don’t want to say it in schools.
“Prevent is shutting down debate and we must oppose it and we must say schools are places where children and teachers should be allowed to discuss these issues.”
Islamophobia
After the debate Christine Blower, NUT general secretary, said: “It is vital that discussions about racism, immigration and Islamophobia – be it from teachers in the classroom, politicians, the media, policy-makers – are rational, accurate and evidence-based.
“The NUT condemns attempts to scapegoat immigrants for the economic and social problems of Britain. The continuing rise in anti-immigrant propaganda is largely based on myths that seek to scapegoat on migrants for a wide range of ills in society.
“Politicians must step up to the plate too and recognise the power of their words and the impact of their actions in driving prejudice against immigrant children and families.”
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) annual conference in Harrogate also condemned the rise of anti-migrant propaganda and attempts by politicians to “scapegoat” immigrants.
The 330,000-strong union unanimously passed a strongly-worded motion condemning UKIP’s education policies.
UKIP’s plans to reintroduce selective education and grammar schools were branded a threat to our “vibrant and diverse” multicultural education system.
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