The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) has once again been recognised for its expertise in supporting the FE and Training sector to fulfil its responsibilities in relation to the Prevent duty with an award of a one-year contract to support the sector’s CPD in this important area. The contract, which was awarded by the Department of Education following a competitive tender process, will run until the end of March 2024.
The contract will see the ETF continue to provide a range of support and resources, including e-learning packages featuring modules aimed at practitioners and learners.
The modules for practitioners define and explain the Prevent duty and its relevance for all working in the sector; help with recognition of indicators to extremism and radicalisation and how to respond to them; describe the roles and responsibilities of staff according to the Prevent duty; and explain the importance of British values as an integral part of delivering training and learning. They also look at the role of Ofsted and introduce the Prevent risk assessment and Channel process.
The ’Side-by-side’ modules, which are for use with learners, explore radicalisation and extremism, staying safe online, understanding which information can be trusted, and British values.
Education and Training Foundation Chief Executive, Dr Katerina Kolyva said:
“We are delighted that the Department for Education has chosen the ETF to continue this important work in the safeguarding arena, supporting the FE and Training sector to fulfil its responsibility to help keep learners safe from radicalisation.
“We know that a significant proportion of Prevent referrals in recent years have come from the education sector; a fact that underlines the importance of practitioners being properly supported to work with their learners to protect students from radicalising influences by building their resilience, and ensuring they are properly equipped to identify and deal with concerns.”
Since their launch in the modules for practitioners have been accessed by more than 375,000 practitioners. In the same period, the ‘Side-by-side’ modules have been accessed by over 700,000 learners.
For further details of the ETF’s support for Safeguarding and Prevent, please visit the dedicated area of the ETF website.
The Prevent strategy was published by Government in 2011, as part of an over-arching counter-terrorism strategy. It aims to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (2015) placed a duty on certain bodies – including Further Education institutions – to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. It is the responsibility of institutions’ senior leadership to put in place robust procedures to protect students from radicalisation and extremism, ensuring that they have considered what is appropriate in their setting based on a risk assessment and taking into account the circumstances of the setting and its local community.