Guidance

Explaining Prevent to staff and students in higher education

Published 16 February 2024

Applies to England

Communicating with staff, students and stakeholders about Prevent

Higher education (HE) plays an important role in protecting students from radicalisation. Prevent leads in HE settings are a key source of information and are well-placed to understand and talk about the radicalisation risk to students.

Regular and effective communications activity helps build awareness of what Prevent is and the role it plays in safeguarding. This guidance sets out some of the techniques and tools you can use to talk about Prevent.

Prevent advocacy speaker catalogue 

The Department for Education has a network of speakers who can talk to staff and students about counter radicalisation work and its benefits. It includes academics, former extremists, survivors of terrorism and subject matter experts.

The catalogue can be used by Prevent leads in higher education to identify appropriate speakers to:

• speak at provider-led events to explain the role of Prevent in countering radicalisation
• provide positive examples of how Prevent has safeguarded students from the risk of radicalisation in HE
• advocate positively about the role Prevent plays in safeguarding students

To access the catalogue, HE Prevent leads should speak with their regional Prevent education coordinator who will ask about:

• the type of speaker you need
• the subject or topic of the event
• details of the event, including times and dates
• who the audience is
• why you would like a Prevent advocate at your event

Once they have this information they will suggest speakers to you that you can contact directly.

Higher education providers should ensure they still adhere to their own external speaker policy, which could include their own due diligence on speakers where appropriate.

Newsletters

Newsletters can be a simple and impactful way to regularly share information with a wide audience. Dedicated newsletters can be an excellent opportunity to highlight the breadth of work going into Prevent delivery at your setting. You might want to include:

• updates on new resources and guidance to understand the Prevent duty
• relevant news items from your local region or setting
• updates on the Prevent support available in your setting

If you or your team doesn’t have the capacity or requirement to develop a standalone newsletter, look for opportunities to embed Prevent messaging into existing newsletters. You can also encourage those with an interest in Prevent to sign-up for regular newsletters from your regional Prevent education coordinator.

Some examples of newsletters on this subject matter include:

• London regional Prevent newsletter
• Educate Against Hate newsletter

Blogs

Blogs are a helpful way to provide more insight into the work you do to safeguard students from radicalisation. They allow you more room to provide examples, testimony and detail which may not be suitable for a newsletter or email. Blogs can help you:

• explain your safeguarding work in more detail
• provide first-hand accounts of Prevent delivery
• highlight the work of staff and students in tackling radicalisation

You may not have the capacity to start and run your own blog, so you could also explore what existing blogs there are within your setting and whether they are appropriate for sharing your Prevent delivery work.

Some examples of how blogs can be used for these purposes include:

• how we’re safeguarding students and learners from radicalisation
• new resources available for discussing extremism with students

Posters and graphics

Posters, graphics and other collateral can help you share information about Prevent both at your provider and online. There are a range of materials available from the Department for Education, Home Office and Counter-Terrorism Police that you can choose to print or include in your communications about Prevent, these include:

• Prevent posters and leaflets from the Home Office
• Prevent poster from Educate Against Hate

Videos

The Department for Education and the Home Office have produced a range of videos. You can show them to staff and students, include them in any training you provide, or include them in newsletters and blogs. These include YouTube videos on:

• Public sector staff working together to stop radicalisation
• The role of education in safeguarding learners from radicalisation’
• What is the extreme right-wing?
• What is Islamist extremism?’
• What are fundamental British values?
• An introduction to the Prevent duty

Social media

Use social media for shorter, snappier posts as well as sharing resources such as blogs or interviews, upcoming events and updates on Prevent in your setting.

Your communications team will be able to advise on the most appropriate way to use social media to share your work on Prevent. This could be creating a new account or working with your communications teams to post Prevent news and updates through existing accounts.

Websites

University websites should contain some basic, easily accessible information about Prevent.

It’s important to make sure that people can easily find your Prevent page using your website’s search function. It should also be navigable from your main landing page.

Prevent information should include, at a minimum:

• an overview of the Prevent programme (what it is and why it is important)
• resources and links such as:
  • Prevent duty guidance
  • Prevent for HE: training and guidance for practitioners
  • ACT Early
  • Educate Against Hate
• contact details for local Prevent or safeguarding leads

A good example of a university Prevent webpage containing this information is the University of Salford.

Developing your own training or support materials

You may want to tailor your Prevent delivery to the specific needs of your setting or local area. There are a range of materials you can draw from when developing training for staff and students. This includes:

• the Prevent duty for governing bodies and senior leaders in higher education
• the Prevent duty of care and the wellbeing of staff and students in higher education
• risk assessment and action planning when implementing the Prevent duty in higher education
• the Prevent duty and ICT policies in higher education
• role-specific guidance for higher education providers on implementing the Prevent duty
• Prevent duty e-learning courses from the Home Office

What you should know about Prevent when engaging with staff and students

Prevent plays an important role in keeping students safe from radicalisation. Staff and students may have questions about its purpose, how it works, and share misconceptions.

Prevent and the role of staff in identifying radicalisation concerns

By regularly engaging with students, staff are in a unique position to identify changes in behaviour. These changes could indicate that someone is susceptible to being drawn into or supporting terrorism. This is a similar task which they are asked to do with regard to other forms of welfare concerns, such as those related to mental health.

The Prevent duty does not ask staff in higher education to carry out any undercover activity or spy on anyone. Anyone can make a referral about an individual who is showing signs of being radicalised. A referral allows for a multi-agency safeguarding assessment to be made. It informs what support may be provided to divert them away from criminal or violent activity.

Staff are encouraged to take due care when safeguarding their students and use the ‘notice, check, share’ method featured in Prevent duty training courses. Help with spotting the signs of radicalisation is available from the ACT Early campaign.

Referrals to Prevent

A Prevent referral allows for a multi-agency safeguarding assessment to be carried out, where all referrals are assessed based on the specific details of the case. 

If the person isn’t at risk of radicalisation, they are not a case for Prevent. If appropriate, the person may be offered other support, for example being referred to mental health services or social services.

Prevent often works with individuals who are vulnerable, and who have multiple or complex needs. Sometimes the risk to radicalisation is not clear but frontline professionals and the public still have concerns. In these instances, it is appropriate for individuals to make a referral in the knowledge that the rigorous assessment process will identify a proportionate response. Case studies on different Prevent support pathways are available from the ACT Early campaign.

Prevent tackles all forms of violent extremism

Prevent is about safeguarding and supporting vulnerable individuals. The goal is to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent is about tackling all forms of extremism.

Providers are trusted to exercise their professional judgment about whether a referral is appropriate, as they do for all other welfare concerns.

Prevent referrals can be made by anybody who has a concern about an individual who may be susceptible to radicalisation. Prevent does not target a specific faith, ethnic group or ideology – it deals with all forms of terrorism. You can learn more about the type of referrals made into Prevent and how they are managed at Individuals referred to Prevent.

The Prevent duty guidance emphasises that providers should implement Prevent in a proportionate way. Local delivery should reflect the local area, relevant local risks, and the provider’s context.

Prevent, debate and freedom of expression

Protecting students from the risk of radicalisation should be seen as part of providers’ wider safeguarding and welfare responsibilities. It is similar to protecting students from other harms.

The duty is not about restricting debate or free speech. The Prevent duty legally requires higher education providers to have particular regard to the duty to secure freedom of speech and academic freedom.

Higher education providers should be safe spaces in which learners can understand and debate sensitive topics.

However, the right to free speech is not an absolute right. It does not include the right to harass others, or incite others to violence or terrorism. Higher education providers should not provide a platform for these offences to be permitted.

Prevent and the UK threat level

The threat level for the UK from international terrorism is set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC). Threat levels give a broad indication of the likelihood of a terrorist attack. They are based on the assessment of a range of factors. These factors include current intelligence, recent events and what is known about terrorist intentions and capabilities.

Since 2018, there have been nine declared terrorist attacks, and 39 disrupted attacks. The majority have been Islamist inspired, but an increasing number are inspired by the extreme right-wing.

The threat level is also increasingly unpredictable, making it harder to detect and investigate. The risk is therefore judged to be rising. 

Incorporating national and local risks into Prevent implementation

It’s important that practitioners are mindful of the need for proportionality under the Prevent duty.  Counter-terrorism local profiles (CTLPs) identify the threat and vulnerability from terrorism and extremism relating to terrorism in local areas. A CTLP helps providers to understand and prioritise threat and vulnerability with suggested recommendations to address any risk. CTLPs should provide practical recommendations that partners can own and progress.

You can learn more about how to access local arrangements to receive CTLPs by speaking with your regional Prevent education coordinator.

Prevent referral process

A Prevent referral is not a punishment or an accusation of criminality. It is an early intervention programme, offering those at risk of radicalisation a range of support pathways to divert them from harmful and criminal activity. It is an entirely voluntary and confidential programme.

It is advisable to get the individual’s consent before making a referral. However, there is no legal duty to get consent or inform the individual when making a Prevent referral. If you feel this could put you or others at risk we would advise that you do not inform the individual.

Advice is available from the ACT Early campaign on what to consider when making a Prevent referral.