Kingston Maurward College – Approach to Tackling Extremism
Background
Kingston Maurward is a land-based college located in a rural area of Dorset The local population is not particularly diverse in terms of ethnicity or religion. Traditionally, our concerns about extremism were limited primarily to animal rights and, to a lesser extent, organised football hooliganism. More recently, our concerns have branched into other areas such as students being drawn into the idea of fighting in Syria against ISIS.
We have a small number of residential students who may be particularly vulnerable to recruitment through Facebook and other social media sites.
To address this issue, we incorporated information about extremism into our safeguarding policies and procedures and engaged in a number of activities to raise both student and staff awareness
Student Awareness
Extremism Tutorial.A tutorial was developed with input from teaching staff, support staff and a member of SMT. The tutorial is delivered as part of the college’s group tutorial programme and has been well received by students. Some Course Managers have adapted it to suit the specific needs of their students.
The tutorial does not focus on one particular area of extremism, eg religious extremism, but explores what extremism is in the wider context. Students learn that animal rights groups, environmental protest groups and political groups may be classed as extremist groups if they engage in direct illegal action. The tutorial is interactive and starts with a scenario which is revisited at the end of the session to find out whether student attitudes have changed as a result.
VLE Area.A Staying Safe module on the Student Support Moodle section includes a video clip and news items relevant to extremism as well as more general resources about staying safe especially in the online environment.
Curriculum Embedded Activity
Wherever possible, teaching staff will embed learning about the dangers of extremism into the curriculum. For example, in preparation for a visit to a local Mosque, Uniformed Public Services staff discuss with students attitudes towards Islamic culture in the UK. This discussion incorporates both extremist Islamic groups and other groups with extremist attitudes against the Muslim community.
Residential Students.Our campus is in a very quiet rural location and is less likely than more urban colleges to be targeted by extremist recruiters in person. However, residential students are vulnerable to recruitment online. We have, therefore, delivered two talks on safety to our residential students. The second talk highlights the dangers of online grooming by extremist organisations and provides guidance on how to look out for concerns among their peers.
Staff Awareness
Extremism is addressed with new staff as part of their child protection training. Awareness has been raised using the forum of the summer Full Staff Meeting and also through the college’s termly Staying Safe Newsletter. The theme of the spring newsletter was ‘It couldn’t happen in Dorset, could it?’ which briefly highlighted extremism, CSE, forced marriage and FGM.
We are currently investigating the possibility of delivering WRAP 3 training to all relevant staff through an external provider.
As part of their Rich Picture campaign, Dorset Police carry out an annual review of our risks, concerns and systems in terms of anti-terrorism and they provide posters for display in staff areas.