It is one thing to pass a law saying we must counter extremism in the classroom. It is another thing to achieve this.

It is quite likely that when you and your colleagues first entered the profession, the notion of our government making it compulsory for schools to use the classroom as a location for countering extremist views was not in the offing.

Indeed most likely there wasn’t even a debate about the possibility of such an issue.

But now we have the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act which makes anti-radicalisation teaching compulsory.

And there is more to the issue than that, for radicalisation in schools is a subject that the media has been seen to leap upon at every opportunity.

Thus helping young people avoid radicalisation is of prime importance.

But there is another issue beyond this, for the level of unwelcome media attention that will follow even a false suggestion that radicalisation has happened in one’s own school can be considerably harmful to the school’s image over a long period of time.

In short one needs to be able to show to everyone at a moment’s notice evidence that the anti-radicalisation programme is fully operational in the school.

For these reasons we have produced a practical handbook which provides an objective resource, full of classroom activities, to enable lower secondary school teachers to tackle the complex subjects of terrorism and radicalisation.

Our approach is to set political violence within a wider context, using familiar emotions of anger and disappointment to introduce the notion of grievance, a precursor of all forms of terrorism.

From here we are able to link the topic to issues of citizenship, human rights and respect, civil and political engagement, how we identify with others and indeed the issue of bullying.

And of course we bring in the historical contexts – from the Suffragettes to Northern Ireland and South Africa as examples – to consider not just the origin of terrorism but also the subsequent process of reconciliation.

There is more detailed information on Radicalisation and Terrorism: A Teacher’s handbook for Addressing Extremism on our web site.

You can order the Radicalisation and Terrorism resource in any of these ways:

On our website
By phone on 01449 766629
By fax on 01449 767122
By email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk
Or By post to Brilliant Publications, Mendlesham Industrial Estate, Norwich Road, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5ND.

Brilliant Publications,
Mendlesham Industrial Estate,
Norwich Road,
Mendlesham,
Suffolk,
IP14 5ND.

website: www.brilliantpublications.co.uk
email: orders@tradecounter.co.uk

phone: 01449 766629
fax: 01449 767122