Students could be left at risk of radicalisation, Ofsted warns

TOO MANY further education colleges and skills providers are leaving students at risk of radicalisation and extremism, according to Ofsted.
Photo: Ben Birchall/PA WirePhoto: Ben Birchall/PA Wire
Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

A “worrying” number of institutions are struggling to put in place a new government requirement to prevent people being drawn into terrorism, despite the majority of providers inspecting doing it well, the education watchdog said.

In some cases, they had not implemented any aspect of the duty - part the Government’s efforts to counter extremism - while others were said to have adopted a “tick-box” approach.

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Inspectors also raised concerns about “inadequate” vetting and monitoring of external speakers, and arrangements for guarding against online radicalisation.

Reports have emerged of young people leaving their studies to become involved in terrorism either in Britain or abroad.

From September, further education and skills providers were placed under a duty to have “due regard” to the need to prevent individuals being drawn into terrorism.

This includes preventing extremists from seeking to radicalise learners and supporting those perceived to be at risk of extremist influence.

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Ofsted carried out survey visits to 37 further education and skills providers, as well as 46 full inspections or monitoring visits between November 2015 and May this year.

Its report found two out of eight independent learning providers visited had not implemented any aspect of the Prevent duty. In one instance, an individual accessed a terrorist propaganda video showing a beheading. However it also found 22 of the 37 providers visited had implemented the Prevent duty well, with general further education and sixth form colleges the most successful.