The Social sustainability platform at the Department of Law invites you to an open seminar Education, 'Prevent' and Children's Rights: England's Legislative and Policy Response to Extremism with visiting professor Neville Harris, professor of law, Manchester university.
In the governmental efforts to tackle forms of extremism arising from the radicalisation of children young people in the UK, the 'Prevent' strategy has a central role. The strategy, reinforced by duties imposed by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, places a particular reliance on schools to stop children and young people being drawn into extremism, through monitoring and potential referral of those perceived to be at risk of adopting extremist ideas or tendencies. At the same time, schools are considered to have a new legal duty promote 'British values', defined as including democracy, the rule of law, and respect for others of different backgrounds, ideals that are considered antithetical to notions of extremism. Part of the context to these developments has been the so-called 'Trojan Horse' affair in the city of Birmingham, involving an alleged plot to take over a number of secular state schools and introduce a narrow, culturally and religiously conservative approach to children's education. Another is the case of three London school pupils who travelled to Syria via Turkey and are believed to have become 'jihadi brides'.
With the initiatives now firmly in place, and broadly attracting political consensus across party divides, what are their implications for the children and young people who are the subject of them? In particular, how are this group's rights and freedoms affected by these measures - positively and/or negatively?
When: 16 May 2017, 13.00-15.00
Where: School of Business Economics and Law
Lecturer: Visiting Professor Neville Harris, Professor of Law, Manchester university