Student Perspectives on Teaching and the Prevent Policy

Abstract

In this chapter we shift our focus away from adults enacting policy to consider how young people think schools can help them to develop their knowledge and understanding of terrorism and extremism. The evidence suggests that young people generally support the values of democracy and reject the use of political violence, but they want their teachers to develop critical media and political literacy and trust them to explore multiple perspectives. Our review of government-endorsed educational resources concludes that they fall short of what young people want and often represent simplistic and uncritical counter-narratives. We argue that a genuinely educational approach will take more heed of young people’s opinions and engage in a more critical exploration of the issues.