One-in-eight referrals to counter-terrorism programme Prevent in Scotland have been made by schools, while one child aged under nine was referred for fear of radicalisation.
Today, Tes Scotland can reveal previously unpublished figures that show schools have made 16 of the 131 referrals to Prevent since the duty - which imposes a legal requirement on teachers to report suspected extremist behaviour to the authorities - was introduced in Scotland in April 2015. Colleges and universities have been responsible for four referrals.
About half of the 131 people referred were aged under 19, while 18 per cent were under 14 and one referral was for a child aged under nine, a freedom of information (FOI) request has shown (see box, right).
Unnecessary referrals
According to Police Scotland, because no targets were set for referrals to Prevent, it was impossible to say whether the number of reports from teachers was high or low. But in England and Wales in 2015 alone, 3,994 people were referred to the deradicalisation programme known as Channel and 1,319 reports - a third of referrals - came from the education sector, according to figures released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
Experts have said that poor training means some teachers in England are referring unnecessarily.
The proportionately low number of referrals from teachers in Scotland was down to a balanced approach taken north of the border, said Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union.
Prevent training was generally delivered to teachers as part of broader training on child protection, as opposed to “single-focus Prevent training”, which in parts of the country would be “wholly disproportionate”, he said.
It was also easier to disseminate training because all Scottish state schools were attached to a local authority, unlike in England, he added. However, Mr Flanagan reiterated EIS opposition to Prevent. The union argues that the strategy threatens trust between teachers and pupils, and actually increases the danger of radicalisation.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s children’s commission, Tam Baillie, said Prevent was “in danger of furthering alienation rather than promoting community cohesion”.
But Police Scotland said that “many good stories” were coming out of Prevent and that interventions following referrals had stopped some young people from travelling to Syria to fight in the civil war.
Mr Flanagan said: “Teenagers have got lots of questions and if they are not going to be able to discuss these questions in a supportive environment at school for fear of being reported, that closes down space for discussion - and closing down that space means there’s a greater danger of radicalisation.
“Prevent is not opposed [by the EIS] because of its ambition - it’s opposed because of its cack-handed approach to a sensitive area. Scottish councils have, by and large, not bought into the anti-Islam narrative that pervades Prevent in England.”
Mr Baillie said prevention was key and that “positive relations within communities should be the cornerstone of our response”.
He added: “I would not like to see trust eroded to the point where children and young people find suspicion rather than support, as this is in danger of furthering alienation rather than promoting community cohesion.”
It is up to local authorities “to determine their own approach to delivering Prevent locally”, said the Scottish government in response to another FOI request, which focused on how teachers were being trained to fulfil the duty. School inspection body Education Scotland has, however, hosted three regional Prevent conferences to which all 32 councils were invited. So far, 27 local authorities have been represented at the events.
Successful interventions
The bulk of the referrals to Prevent come from the police; other referrals are from local authorities, NHS Scotland and individuals, said the Police Scotland Prevent lead, detective chief inspector Martin Black.
Since April 2015, only one person has been referred to Prevent Professional Concerns - the multi-agency group that deals with the “most acute cases”, he said. But this did not mean the other 130 referrals were spurious, he added.
DCI Black continued: “There are many good stories about those individuals who we have stopped [from] travelling to Syria and putting themselves at risk.
“There have been cases where we have spoken to young people who wish to go out to Syria, not just to fight for [jihadist groups] Isis/Isil, but also those who want to fight on the other side against Isis.”
The FOI request revealed that 85 of the 131 referrals were related to “ideology” and 46 to “other”.
Those referred for ideological reasons could have been referred for extreme right-wing beliefs, extreme Islamic beliefs or extreme sectarian views, said DCI Black.
Those who fell into the “other” category included those with mental health problems, which meant they could not be easily categorised as having beliefs that stemmed from one particular ideology, he added.
The Scottish government has been at pains to stress that its approach to implementing Prevent is different to that of Westminster. The focus north of the border, a Scottish government spokeswoman said, was “to implement a balanced and proportionate approach to safeguarding vulnerable individuals from radicalisation”.
When asked if it was appropriate for a child under the age of nine to be referred, the spokeswoman refused to comment.
