ma in international education and development · school of education ma in international education...

Candidate number: 129427

School of Education

MA in International Education and Development

CANDIDATE NUMBER: 129427

SUBMISSION DATE: 28 August 2015

COURSE TITLE: Master in International Education and Development

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: The role of early years education in preventing violent extremism

Number of words in this assignment: 16184(students should refer to their Programme Handbook for maximum word length)

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The Role of Early Years Education in Preventing Violent Extremism

Figure 1, Al Arabiya News: Global attention turns to education for countering extremism (Yazbek 2013)

A research project for MA International Education and Development University of Sussex 2015


Acknowledgements I would like to thank the participants who took part in this project. I appreciate the time they gave to allow me to interview them, as without their willingness to volunteer, this project would not have taken place. I would also like to thank my tutor Naureen Durrani for helping to guide me through this project. Thank you all very much.

Key Words Extremism; Radicalisation; Early Years Education; Social Development; Community Cohesion

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Abstract With ongoing terror attacks around the world, in Paris, Turkey and most recently Thailand, there has been new impetus for the UK’s Government’s Prevent strategy that looks to use education to prevent extremism. Although the UK Government feel all forms of extremisms are a risk they highlight Islamic extremism to be the most threatening to the UK. The UK Government hope to tackle this by using education to challenge extreme views, identify those vulnerable to radicalisation and form a strong sense of belonging and identity. Now, since 1 July 2015, all educational institutions including early years settings such as nurseries and reception classes are legally bound to implement the Prevent Strategy.

A report made by the Government in 2010 commented on how many schools were implementing the Prevent strategy but failed to assess early year settings as well. Now that this Prevent policy is obligatory, this study seeks to explore what the early years settings have been doing to administer this policy. I first examine the literature to understand what extremism is, what drives individuals into it and how young children are implicated. I then examine the relationship between education, extremism and community cohesion to support the analysis of the Prevent strategy.

Using the literature review my research aimed to analyse early years practitioners’ views on the Prevent strategy 2011 and the role of early years education in promoting community cohesion. This was achieved through two inter-related research questions which intend to shed more light on how the role of education for young children can assist in the prevention of violent extremism.

I used an exploratory research approach which allowed me to delve into the unknown and uncover

information for further investigation. I Interviewed five early year practitioners from both public and

private settings to discover that no participant knew anything about Prevent although three had witnessed behaviour amongst early years children they deemed extreme. Community cohesion

was looked upon as important by the participants, but I argue inclusion methods utilised and academic pressures that restrict children’s social development to in fact hinder community

cohesion. In addition I question the Prevent policy and how it aims to prevent violent extremism.

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Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 ..............................................................................................................

Key words 3 .............................................................................................................................

Abstract 4 ................................................................................................................................

List of abbreviations 7 .............................................................................................................

1. Introduction 8 .....................................................................................................................

2. Literature Review 10 .........................................................................................................

Extremism, fundamentalism and radicalisation 10 ..................................................................

Paths to extremism 13 .............................................................................................................

Young children and extremism 16 ...........................................................................................

Education and extremism 18 ..................................................................................................

Early years in supporting community cohesion 20 ..................................................................

The Prevent strategy — what is being done 21 ......................................................................

Conclusion 25 .........................................................................................................................

3. Methodology 27 .................................................................................................................

Research design 27 ................................................................................................................

Sample 28 ...............................................................................................................................

Data gathering 28 ...................................................................................................................

Data analysis 29 .....................................................................................................................

Ethical considerations 30 ........................................................................................................

Limitations 30 ..........................................................................................................................

4. Research findings and analysis 32 .................................................................................

Research question one:

Community cohesion 32 .........................................................................................................

Social development 32 ............................................................................................................

Children's' play 33 ...................................................................................................................

Pressure 34 .............................................................................................................................

Educational approach 35 ........................................................................................................

Identities 36 .............................................................................................................................

Community involvement 36 .....................................................................................................

Research question two:

Awareness 37 .........................................................................................................................

Initial opinions 37 ....................................................................................................................

Identifying 38 ...........................................................................................................................

Community effect 39 ...............................................................................................................�5

Candidate number: 129427Role of education 40 ...............................................................................................................

Implementation 40 ..................................................................................................................

5. Conclusion 42 ...................................................................................................................

6. References 44 ....................................................................................................................

Appendix A 53 .........................................................................................................................

Appendix B 54 .........................................................................................................................

Appendix C 55 ........................................................................................................................

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List of abbreviations

Abbreviation

ISIS Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

CGCC Centre on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation

DFE Department For Education

ECCE Early childhood care and education

DCSF Department for Children, Schools and Families

PSED Personal Social and Emotional Development

Ofsted Office for Standards in Education, Children's

Services and Skills

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1. Introduction On September 11, 2001, I watched a program on a silent TV in a corner of a room in the middle of London. The program turned out to be a live news report of the beginning of the terror attacks in America. Since that attack there has been a fivefold increase in terrorism fatalities worldwide, which Islamic State, Boko Haram, Taliban and al-Qaida, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), have been in recent years mostly responsible (MacAskill 2014).

On July 7, 2007, London this time became the centre of another devastating terrorist attack with one significant difference — the perpetrators nationality. The terrorists who attacked London were not foreign invaders like those who had attacked America but were born and bred in the very same country they had attacked. Although not the first time citizens had attacked their own country, it directly implicated Islam and Muslims into the terrorist and securitisation discourse.

Even in the time it took to think about what I could research for my dissertation, terrorist attacks by those named violent extremists continued to happen all over the world, such as an ISIS attack on a school in Pakistan (Bokhari and Mallet 2014). From this to attacks in Australia, France, and Tunisia the new breed of extremist — the home grown terrorist, continued to emerge. Surprisingly these were individuals often just out of school or even still within the education system (Malik and Siddique 2015), which made me curios as to the relationship between education and violent extremism and in particular educations role within this.

Whatever the reason for these attacks education became part of the debate too (Davies 2009) and the UK Government now look to use it to prevent such violent extremism through a policy known as Prevent (2011). They aim to use education to challenge extreme views, identify those vulnerable to radicalisation, and look to use it to form a strong sense of belonging, community and identity to the UK to prevent further radicalisation. This policy incorporates all educational institutions up and down the country including nurseries and reception classes — the early years.

An article that furthered my interest was a comment made by the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan who expressed how children as young as two were at risk from religious extremism (Holehouse 2014). Having worked in a number of early years environments in a varied number of settings I was interested to explore the reality behind this. This was of particular interest as I knew nothing of this Prevent strategy which had first been formulated for schools before I had even started teaching seven years ago.

However the situation has now changed as on 1st July 2015 this Prevent strategy became a legal duty that all educational institutions now need to oblige including nurseries and reception classes. Yet as a result of Prevent, work on community cohesion has said to have been sidelined as Ofsted have removed the current duty to report on schools contribution to community cohesion. Instead however they will look at other factors that will determine if schools undermine community

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Candidate number: 129427cohesion (HM Government 2011). I therefore wanted to explore practitioners thoughts on this and also how early year practitioners feel about this Prevent strategy and the role of education in preventing extremism.

To avoid further attacks in this country by its own citizens an effective policy is paramount. Even more so that spy chiefs claim similar attacks are imminent (Hughes and Sommerlad 2015). But is it really necessary for such a program to be introduced with children so young or even to aim it so directly at Islam and Muslims? I will look to analyse the Prevent policy but firstly I will explore the extremism it is aiming to prevent. This will assist in the evaluation of the Prevent policy and establish what early years education could possibly do.

After discussing the literature I will then use this information to help guide my semi-structured interviews and then the analysis of the data gathered. I will use an exploratory approach to interview five early years practitioners from both the public and private settings and use a constant comparative method in which to locate the most discussed themes, raised by the participants. From this data I then look to surmise the role education plays for very young children, in the move to prevent violent extremism.

The findings from this research could be useful to curriculum development specialists with an interest in improving the social development of children and national and regional policy makers who look to support schools with preventing extremism. It could also be useful for early year practitioners with an interest in understanding the nexus between education and extremism with very young children.

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2. Literature Review Within this chapter I critically examine the literature on extremism, young children and education. I do this in order to obtain the main themes and approaches surrounding these concepts in order to inform my data collection and analysis. I begin by exploring definitions of the key concepts and then discuss causes of extremism. The relationship between extremism, young children and education is then focused on to give us a greater clarity of education’s role in promoting community cohesion and for critiquing the UK Governments strategy to prevent violent extremism.

Extremism, fundamentalism and radicalisation Defining words is always problematic as meanings can differ immensely, however I will aim to outline the general debate surrounding these concepts and highlight the most conventional perceptions. It is absolutely crucial that I begin this project with exploring these terms as without a salient understanding of them, comprehending the role of education for young children in preventing violent extremism would be futile. Extremism, fundamentalism and radicalisation are all words that have been used increasingly since the terrorist attacks in New York, 2001 and although understandings and meanings might merge within all three, there are some clear distinct differences.

Extremism derives from the word extremist which is ‘a person who holds extreme or fanatical, political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action’ (Pearsall, Oxford Dictionary 1998: 652). However, If we Google search extremism or peruse our national papers this term is mostly attached with paradoxical notions such as violence and Islam yet definitions of extremism often do not include either. This term therefore if used carelessly is potentially dangerous as it can indirectly label or stigmatise parts of society (Himmelstein 1988). Desmond Tutu describes it in a stronger light:

“When you do not allow for a different point of view; when you hold your own views as being quite exclusive, when you don't allow for the possibility of difference” (Tutu 2006 as cited in Davies 2009: 185).

The UK Government in continuation of this shift deems it to be:

‘vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect. We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas’ (HM Government 2011: 107).

The final definition displays a marked difference in interpretation to the first two as it is the only one to mention violence yet the meaning is vague as ‘British values’ and ‘mutual respect’ are highly subjective. Nevertheless a picture does begin to emerge from these definitions portraying

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Candidate number: 129427extremism as an extreme viewpoint that is unaccepting of difference and potentially violent, but without a benchmark to judge ‘extreme’ this term remains clouded. For instance Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al Qaeda described ISIS as being “too extreme” (BBC 2014) thus highlighting this complexity. Some academics such as Davies (2009) therefore offers different forms of extremism verging from non-violent to violent. However the British Government do not see a difference between extremism and violent extremism as Cameron enunciates in his Munich speech on radicalisation and extremism:

“Many of those (convicted of terrorist offences) were initially influenced by what some have called ‘non-violent extremists’ and then took these radical beliefs to the next level by

embracing violence” (Cameron 2011).

Cameron therefore has pleaded to tackle all forms of extremism both violent and non-violent suggesting both are equally dangerous. Essentially this risks castigating all extremists as terrorists when clearly they are not, as one founding member of Al Qaeda Aimen Dean proved, when he left Al Qaeda because of it's increasing unjustified violent stance (BBC Radio 4 2015).

Generally nowadays extremism is viewed as pejorative but is also exonymic as it is usually applied by others to a group. However those that are deemed extremist are likely to view their actions as just and moral, as bin Laden stated “I’m fighting so I can die a martyr and go to heaven to meet God” (bin Laden 2001; as cited by Kawilarang 2004: 253). Extremism lacks clarity and has been completely disregarded by some academics because ‘at best this characterisation tells us nothing substantive about the people it labels; at worst it paints a false picture’ (Himmelstein 1988: 7). Nevertheless this term is used today to describe groups such as right wing fascists and Al Qaeda but has also been used to describe the behaviour of government forces such as the FBI in Waco (Coleman 2015). In Germany the authorities tend to avoid using official definitions for extremist groups thus allowing authorities to deal with cases without any preconceived notions and helping to integrate procedures on Islamic extremism into already existing counter-measures for right-wing extremism (Berczyk and Vermeulen 2015), which could help to avoid any stigmatisation. Extremism is therefore a complex and unclear term that has in the UK been transmuted to fit with the current terrorist climate.

Extremism is often associated with fundamentalism but fundamentalism is solely based on religious ideology where extremism is not, although fundamentalism can serve to generate certain views that could form part of an extremists mindset. For example Kahn (2006) proclaims parts of the bible have been used by Christian sects to support helping the poor and caring for the sick whilst other parts have been used to justify sexism, racism and sexual prejudice. Originally fundamentalism applied only to Protestant or Catholics literal interpretation of religious text but within the last two hundred years it has become associated with Islam as well. Once it was used as a positive self definition (Losurdo 2004) but now it is used to describe terrorist ideology from groups such as Al Qaeda. Nevertheless it is important to point out that not all fundamentalists are �11

Candidate number: 129427extremists (Davies 2009) but this fundamentalist view of religious text often serves as a tool for recruitment into violent extremist organisations (Pape 2005).

Radicalisation stems from the word, radicalise, which in the Oxford Dictionary can be defined as to, ‘initiate or introduce fundamental or far-reaching changes in (opinion)’ (Pearsall 1998: 1528). Generally it is not normally regarded as pejorative unlike extremism although for some time it has often been used to describe the causes of terrorism (Crenshaw 1981). One of the founders of a new wave of radicalisation discourse depicts it as ‘what goes on before the bomb goes off’ (Neumann 2008: 4) which is a similar to the UK governments version, ‘the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and forms of extremism leading to terrorism’ (HM Government 2011: 108).

Initially however MI5 expressed there was no natural continuum from radical to violent extremism (Miller 2012) but now the government feel it is a driver of contemporary international terrorism. Nevertheless there are many radicals that have not become violent extremists for example the suffragettes in the early 1900s or those involved in the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. Like extremism there can be a risk in labelling or identifying an individual that appears radicalised, as the reverberations of this can often overfill to a grouping at large that that individual is associated with. An example of this in my opinion would be the London bombers 2007 and Islam. As one scholar puts it ‘the discourse of a radicalisation process is thus highly efficient and functional, if also reductive, racially biased and highly problematic’ (Heath-Kelly et al. 2015: 7).

There are many theories of radicalisation. Some that are theological, while others are social psychological but at the core of most I have read is an emphasis on turning, influencing and guiding individuals. It is therefore this area that is the current focus of attention because if radicalisation theories (Kundnani 2015) suggest people can be steered in one direction then they surely can also be steered in another. And for some like Davies (2009) radicalisation can best be addressed through Education.

I have chosen to define the three terms above as extremism and radicalisation are central to Prevent which therefore makes them relevant for this research project. I also defined fundamentalism as I wanted to make clear the distinction between religion and extremism. When using these words particularly extremism and radicalisation I shall be using them as defined by the UK Government in the Prevent Strategy to make it clearer for the reader. Despite this it is worth noting that after the consultation paper was issued for the Prevent Duty Guidance in 2014, educationists expressed their confusion over the definitions for extremism and radicalisation given in the guidance, and asked for more clarity to be provided (HM Government 2014). Yet In 2015 the revised Prevent Duty Guidance 2015 published exactly the same definitions and offered no further clarity on the meanings of these terms (HM Government 2015).

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Candidate number: 129427Paths to extremism Of course there is no panacea for preventing individuals becoming vulnerable to radicalisation or adopting an extremist position because the root causes are many, diverse, individualistic, debatable and contextual. Some argue, fundamentalist religion drives an individual onto an extremist path (European Parliament 2015) while others believe it to be a violent ideology that has nothing to do with religion (Glees 2015). Some believe it to aspire from foreign policy that injects grievance into a minority (Pape 2005) while others look at racism in communities and lack of integration that alienates a persons sense of belonging to the country and offers them little identity to be proud of (Khan 2015b). If we are to comprehend how the role of education for young children could help prevent violent extremism it is critical we discuss these paths to extremism. Since the 1990s according to surveys and reports ‘religious imperative is identified as the most important defining characteristic of terrorism’ (Miller 2012: 190) which seems representative of the UK’s Governments extremist list. Out of eighty-one terrorist groups most base themselves off a religious disposition (Home Office 2015). Yet interestingly, Pape (2005) argues that religion is often not the root cause. As an example in 1985 Hezobllah wrote to the allied forces expressing their

‘great and necessary objectives’ were ‘to put an end to foreign occupation and to adopt a regime freely wanted by the people of Lebanon’ and ‘to expel the Americans, the French and their allies…putting an end to any colonialist entity on our land’ (Pape 2005: 31). Similarly Osama Bin Laden voiced in his famous 1998 fatwa:

“The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies — civilians and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and holy mosque (Mecca) from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslims”. (bin Laden 1998 as cited in Pape 2005: 54).

Pape (2005) convincingly suggests it is more about foreign policy and foreign troops occupying their (extremists) land that is their real contention.

There are some however that argue the very doctrine of Islam is to blame for the current wave of extremism, as it is incompatible with western democratic values and that actually it is a violent religion (Philips 2015b). Philips (2015b) however offers little evidence to support this argument and ignores the millions that follow Islam peacefully in this country. Yet the British Prime Minister suggests to combat the current threat of extremism the Muslim community need to do more “we need to be intolerant of intolerance” (Cameron BBC Radio 4 2015). Although Cameron clearly states that Islam is a peaceful religion he does take a strong stance on parts of the Muslim community that might quietly condone terrorist groups such as ISIS. The danger of this lies in the possibility of creating an ‘us and them’ agenda — of creating a divide that can reduce the possibility of community cohesion. �13


Davies (2009: 186) states ‘extremism is not actually about theological differences, but about power and control’. Her apathy for religion however, which she has been criticised for (Quartermine 2010; Thompson 2010), damages her arguments. Nonetheless others agree as Suleiman (2009: 10) argues that, ‘violent extremism is a social and political phenomena rather than an intrinsically religious one’. Professor Antony Glees agrees and exclaims extremism does not involve theology it is more ideological, although groups such as ISIS coat it in religious language (Glees, BBC Radio 4 3015).

In my opinion the power of religion in this circumstance is undeniable in being both positive and negative and cannot be overlooked. A classic example of its influential power would be the case of the Jonestown mass suicide or murder in 1978, depending on which lens you put on it. What religion gives extremist groups is a strong identity marker for mobilising, a hook for recruiting, a common ground and legitimisation for their actions (Schmid 2014; Miller 2013). As the once Islamist extremist commented, Maajid Navaz (2008), ‘I was abusing my faith for a mere political project’. It was only after his spell in prison that he begin to see his group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and their real extremist aim, disguised in religious fervour. Religion may not be the ultimate cause for extremist views but it certainly plays a part in the radicalisation process (Gartenstein-Ross and Grossman 2009) and an appropriate response to build resilience to this would be through religious education in schools (Miller 2012).

There are many theories and indicators as to the main causes of radicalisation leading to an extremist ideology but the term identity is one that has been mentioned in many of the radicalisation theories I have read. It is no surprise then that Cameron (2011) remarks on it in his Munich speech 2011, “The root lies in this extremist ideology the reason so many young Muslims are drawn to it comes down to a question of identity”. Firstly it is presumptuous to assume only Muslims are drawn to it as some studies prove, that is not always the case. For example an FBI study discovered 94% of terrorists attacks on US soil between 1980 and 2005 were committed by non-muslims (Obieldallah 2015). Despite this can those that go on to commit terrorist acts really be thought of as Muslim? This is where identity becomes important. As British comic Philip Wang of Asian decent elucidates “I am voting UKIP just to see where they send me back to” (BBC1 2015). In other words your identity can often depend on the group deciding it. British Muslim, Waseem Iqbal, provides another example when he said:

“When I’m in England I’m ‘Paki,' it’s what I am called here and when I go to Pakistan their like oi ‘British,' so I really feel like I belong on the aeroplane somewhere in-between”. (Iqbal as recorded by Khan 2015b)

This lack of identity and sense of national belonging is argued to make British individuals vulnerable to radicalisation (Philips 2015a BBC Radio 4). The social identity theory helps theorise

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Candidate number: 129427this concept by looking at the dynamics of social groupings in society. Tajfel 1979 proposed that groups give individuals a sense of identity and that:

‘the central hypothesis of social identity theory is that group members of an in-group will seek to find negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self-image’ (Mcleod 2008).

These prejudiced views in their extreme view can then often form the basis of an extremist ideology such as racism or genocide. Such was the case with Germany and the Jews, Hutus and Tutsis, Bosnia and Serbs (McLeod 2008) and indeed now ISIS and the West. Even though national identity has been argued as the most important identity (Smith 1991). Hogg and Terry (2001) proclaim small group identity can be even more important than an individuals national identity, which may well be seen with the British terrorists who carried out the London attacks in July 2007. Abdel Bari Atwan the editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm, the Arab world's first Huffington Post-style digital news and opinion website, reviewed the martyrdom videos left by the London bombers and commented ‘there was a collective sense of religious and historical identity’ (Atwan 2006, cited by Brighton 2007: 14) ‘that form the heart of bin Laden’s message’ (Brighton 2007: 14). In other words their commitment was to their group, Al Qaeda. As well as this former Hizb-ut-Tahir, Shiraz Maher member explains how Islamism is used to be at the centre of an individuals identity so that it helps to create this binary of Muslims and the rest (Schmid 2014).

Arno Gruen a Swiss-German psychologist and psychoanalyst said referring to national identity, “The lack of identity associated with extremists is the result of self-destructive self-hatred that leads to feelings of revenge” (Gruen 2003 cited by Coleman and Bartoli 2015: 4). Deeyah Khan (2015b) would agree and discovers in her documentary (where she interviews former British Muslim extremists that fought oversees), that for many of them they had a sense of pain in their lives that made extreme Islamism attractive. She reported on how these Muslims from a very early age faced racism, exclusion from society and pressure from their families and communities, that made it hard for them to integrate, causing a crisis of identity and a feeling of powerlessness and insignificance. As a result they felt Jihad was a way of overcoming this and that their highest ambition was to seek death a martyrdom, in the path of Allah. Therefore a Policy designed to prevent extremism such as Prevent which identifies Islam and Muslims as a threat, can only increase this feeling of exclusion.

The former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission Trevor Philips certainly supports part of Khans (2015b) argument when he argues in his program ‘Things We Won’t Say About Race That Are True,' that, ‘this country has been sleeping walking into segregation’ (Philips 2015c):

“Campaigners like me sincerely believed that if we could prevent people expressing prejudiced thoughts, they’d stop thinking them,” He now says they were “utterly wrong” (Philips 2015c).

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Candidate number: 129427He argues that the creed of multiculturalism, which was designed to promote racial equality, has not been successful. His remedy however, to talk about racial truths, could be dangerous as children might struggle making friends if they go round expressing, white people are more likely to get drunk, columbians are more likely to deal drugs, black people are more likely to be jailed for robbery and the Chinese are more likely to people traffic. Nevertheless the question remains why do some chose a violent extremist path when others who have had a similar trajectory in life have not? Likewise with extremism we face today, the glamour of Jihad may appeal to men but how does it appeal to women? Especially wives and mothers? For them it has been argued that the push factor, from where they live, is greater than the pull, and that undoubtedly asks a lot of questions on the society they grow up in (The Week 2015).

Young children and extremism Violent extremism is a phenomenon that is prevalent in our world today but can young children really be at risk from radicalisation? Do young children fall prey to fundamental religious views or indeed identity issues that can fuel radicalisation? This section seeks to investigate the evidence of young children, radicalisation and extremism and will focus on predominantly British examples as the current research focusses on this grouping. The importance of this section is key as if young children are implicated within the extremism narrative then educational institutions, where children spend much of their time, inextricably, become involved too.

On 15 June 2015, Iraq woke up to another suicide attack. This time it was set off by a Britain, Talha Asmal, and at seventeen he became ‘Britain's youngest suicide bomber’ (Malik and Siddique 2015). In addition On 17 February 2015 three girls left Britain to join ISIS in Syria, one of which was fifteen (BBC News 2015), but at what age did they begin this path of extreme behaviour? In 2015 ISIS released an execution video that purports to show a ten year old boy shooting dead two Russians (The Independent 2015). Whether this child was radicalised or just physically forced into it is another debate but the fact remains that children are part of this debate.

One of the founders of Al Qaeda mentioned earlier, Aimen Dean, describes how he went to an Islamic awareness study aged nine where by at the age of eleven he was mixing with older boys in which one would later lead Al Qaeda - Osama bin Laden (BBC Radio4 2015). This suggests that thoughts gained early in an individual can have profound effects. Nevertheless it is important to mention that although the BBC strongly believe in the legitimacy of his claims there are some that doubt his story on the basis that, ‘significant spies stay silent till the end’ (Reynolds 2015).

The example of Parvis Khan further illustrates this nexus between young children and extremism. Khan was jailed for life as an Islamic fanatic for planning to behead a British soldier but was also reported to have been training his sons aged seven and five (Chaytor 2008). Khan was supposedly secretly taped telling his five year old "What do you do with these people? How do you kill them? Cut their neck. Show me.” The dad of four was heard praising his son for making a throat-slitting

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Candidate number: 129427gesture, telling him: “Good" (Chaytor, 2008). In addition to this a twenty month year old baby was seen wearing an ‘I love Al-Qaida’ hat next to her father carrying a placard which read “whoever insults a prophet kill him” (Morgan 2009). This exemplifies young children being taught extreme behaviour but does this play a part in creating future terrorists. My next example suggests this is not necessarily the case.

Zak Ebrahim describes how his father introduced him to a whole new side of Islam at the age of seven. He reports it to be a dynamic change in his life as he was subjected to ‘violent intolerant ideology’ (Ebrahim 2014 TED). His father later would be convicted for the World Trade Centre bombing in 1993 allowing ultimately his extreme views to culminate in terrorism. But his son chose the opposite direction helped by a Jewish friend and exposure to different faiths and cultures that his job allowed. This example suggests that children that are exposed to extremism at an early age can deflect that ideology later in life with a little assistance from others challenging that view.

The Channel Project which is part of the Prevent strategy attempts to offer similar support that Ebrahim got from his friends by supporting children who have been identified as displaying signs of extreme behaviour. In 2009, two hundred and twenty-eight people were referred to this project, one of which was seven (Camber 2009) and more recently a child aged three was reported (Churchill 2015). Yet the Government so far has failed to publish the internal reports assessing the effectiveness of the program (Thomas 2012) which leaves this de-radicalisation process in doubt.

The idea of the project is ostensibly to protect the country nevertheless reporting young children to such a scheme could inevitably break down trust within the community (Mendick & Verkaik 2015). For example in Australia before any terrorist attack had appeared the country was already implementing measures similar to the Prevent Strategy. Since then Australia has been the target of a number of terrorist attacks and:

“per capita, Australia is one of the largest sources of foreign war fighters to the Syrian conflict from countries outside the region” (Australian Attorney General George Brandis as cited by Safi and Evershed 2014).

There is a suggestion that measures that highlight a particular minority can in-fact exacerbate the problem (Heath-Kelly et al. 2015).

History tells us that young children have been a part of extreme and radical groups for many years from Spartan war training to civil rights marches in America, to fighting as boy soldiers in Sierra Leone. As ‘terrorist acts are more likely to be committed by those under thirty’ (HM Government 2011: 64) an equal focus on the earlier years therefore might be necessary in producing a socially cohesive society. Children naturally want to belong and by reflecting on this through the social identity theory, religious groups and family groups (the in-groups) could be an arena in which extreme views for them become normalised. Education although another arena where minority �17

Candidate number: 129427children might experience racism, alienation and exclusion, it could also be a place to contest extreme views and behaviour.

Extreme views are not just exclusive to the home and have been reported in primary schools:

‘A primary age pupil in the playground starts talking about the duty of all true Muslims to

prepare for Jihad as we grow up’ and talks of the ‘7/7 martyrs with admiration’ (DCFS 2008:

35).

‘during a primary school circle time a number of pupils say that they have been involved in physical attacks on children outside school to make them go back to their own country’ (DCFS 2008: 35).

Yet the Prevent Strategy states:

‘Schools are important not because there is significant evidence to suggest children are being radicalised — there is not — but because they can play a vital role in preparing young people to challenge extremism and the ideology of terrorism and effectively rebut those who are apologists for it’ (Prevent 2011: 63).

To say there is not evidence that children are becoming radicalised is wrong though. With an increasing amount of young children being referred to the Channel programme in the last year including a boy aged six who threatened to cut off the head of his teacher (Leo 2015), it suggests an element of radicalisation is appearing in the youngest of school children.

Education and extremism Schools and nurseries are a place where children spend a huge amount of their childhood. It is the place where they are supposed to learn and develop and become equipped to survive in a future world as adults. However the extent to which this system produces cohesion in society and prevents violent extremism can be argued (Davies 2009).

For example the National Curriculum in England has been criticised for not providing a pluralistic perspective and that national curriculums per se can be transformed into a dangerous nationalism (Carrington and Short 1995). Although not all agree with this (BBC News 2013).

A classic negative example of a national curriculum would be Nazi Germany from the 1930 - 1945, but there is a UK based study on this topic that I would like to delve into. This study looked at primary school aged children from 6-11 and their conceptions of their national culture and identity. This study discovered in essence, racist views amongst the children and a monolithic view of society that was not conducive to a multicultural society (Carrington and Short 1995). A study like

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Candidate number: 129427this although small in size raises concerns about the effects education can have on young children. If we are to prevent violent extremism through a multicultural approach then maybe teaching methods and its contents in this area need to be reconsidered. Yet we cannot overlook the society in which education fits in as these children at such a young age have experienced life more outside school than in it, suggesting these children came to school already armed with such opinions. Connolly (1998) study illuminates this, where five and six year olds in a school, were recorded articulating highly racist, violent and sexualised comments. This demonstrates how ‘schools do not exist in a vacuum they are a reflection of the society in which they exist’ (Hadley 1985) which spells out the importance of appropriate UK policy in addressing violent extremism. For example if it appears negative towards a minority group then it is to be expected that education will follow suit. Connolly (1998) also believes children this young should not be overlooked when educational initiatives aim to address such malignant themes.

Yet it has been remarked that league tables and exams results put pressures on teachers to stick rigidly to the curriculum and thus not confront some of the current issues of the day such as discussing terrorism (Miller 2013). This poses other issues as well like teachers focusing more time on exam subjects than on helping children to build positive relationships — “more is spoken about the periodic table or the geography of Iceland in schools than on how to get on with another human being” (Griffiths 2015: 11). Nurseries now are also subject to Ofsted and are not just graded on their childcare but on the development of the children which includes basic numbers and letters — ‘school readiness’. Neoliberal markets have also created high competition between nurseries which adds more pressure to produce results. This could consequently result in neglect for certain key aspects of a child’s development, like social development, that is necessary in creating a cohesive society. As Davies (2009: 190) notes ‘the current obsession with excellence and standards may actually be conducive to extremism’.

Religious or faith schools including nurseries have also come under close scrutiny for generating religious fundamentalism in pupils including in nurseries (Mia 2014). However the Centre on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation (CGCC 2013: 6) proclaim ‘poorly resourced or managed public school systems are more likely to create an environment for violent extremism’. In addition as a consequence of prolific groups such as Al Qaeda performing violent acts in the name of Islam, Madairs have also been accused of harbouring religious fundamentals, but terrorists responsible

for five of the worst anti-Western terrorist attacks, did not attend Madrassa education (Bergen and Pandey 2010). This is worth considering as many children in this country and abroad attend Madairs education from the age of four straight after school or at weekends.

The Prevent Strategy (2011) names all private schools where extremism could be more of a problem than public-funded schools due to the regulatory system for independent schools not displaying much clarity in their inspection criteria. This is one of the reasons why I would like to carry out some of my research in independent early years settings not subject to Ofsted inspections. �19


Early years in supporting community cohesion There are 17,900 full day early year care settings in England (Department for Education 2014) with 94% of three year olds and 99% of four year olds taking up funded early education (Department for Education 2015a). Of the 1, 321, 900 children in early education 42% attend private, voluntary and independent provision and there are 233,200 early year practitioners. Early education hopes to provide ‘a secure foundation for all children for good progress through school and life’ (Department for Education 2015b).

The very concept of Early Years education grew from the notion of equity. It has been argued that early childhood care and education (ECCE) can reduce social inequality and that it can compensate for ‘vulnerability and disadvantage resulting from factors such as poverty, gender, race, ethnicity, caste or religion’ (UNESCO 2007: 7). In the UK back in 1967, the Plowden Report had recognised this by suggesting that more nurseries be built especially in areas of social deprivation within the UK. ECCE in recent years has thus grown with a 129% increase in settings since 2001 (Department for Education 2014). Therefore if communities play a part in preventing extremism like the Prevent Strategy says they do ECCE appears significant to that. For example early years educational centres such as the Chicago Child Parent Centres indicated that those who enrolled when they were young, by twenty-six were less likely to be arrested and more likely to have full-time employment (Heckman 2013). The Perry Preschool Project which Heckman also used in his analysis was a study that examined the lives of hundred and twenty-three children born in poverty and at high risk of failing in school. The study discovered that those who joined at ages three and four, and entered into a program group that received a high-quality preschool program were at age forty, more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not have preschool (HighScope 2015). These studies however focus the impact of ECCE on the individual and less on the community and the cohesion it could potentially bring but do nevertheless hint at the positive results it can bring to society.

The Government in the UK is increasing spending on early years education (Department for Education 2015c) alongside the Obama administration (White House 2015) which arguably advocates the benefits to society early years education can bring. Moreover it is likely now that more individuals will access early years educational settings than Universities which potentially make them a key place for community projects and as Russell Hobby General secretary of Headteachers union NAHT implies, nurseries are a great place to build strong relationships with families (Mendick and Verkaik 2015).

However some experts have proclaimed that early schooling in the UK can damage children’s wellbeing. Hundred and twenty-seven senior figures declare:

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Candidate number: 129427 ‘very few countries have a school starting age as young as four, as we do in England… school readiness is now dominating policy pronouncements’ (Malik 2013).

Early years education they suggest is becoming too formal and that learning through play should be encouraged. They declare UK children who enter school later around six or seven after a less formal nursery education consistently achieve better educational results as well as higher levels of well being (Malik 2013). Therefore this implies that implementation is also crucial to successful results.

Community cohesion ‘is widely used to describe a state of harmony or tolerance between people from different backgrounds living within a community’ (Centre for Social Relations 2015). Early years education as just reflected on, has the potential to play a part in this if it is implemented effectively. Schmidt (2014: 22) also remarks on a further importance of it by expressing ‘extremists … more often than not stick to their views gained early in life in the family, school, church or mosque’.

Due to the community cohesion statutory duty all schools have a legal obligation including nurseries to promote this. In a study conducted in 2010 that did not include nurseries, it was found that 95% of the eight hundred and four schools had a fair amount of knowledge on it and were implementing initiatives in conjunction with this policy. However community cohesion has now been sidelined by Prevent as highlighted by Ofsted’s removal of it from their inspection checklist including nurseries (Knowles 2015). This could effectively force schools and nurseries to concentrate more on Preventing extremism than actually building relations with the community that could be as productive at preventing extremism and ensuring community cohesion than the Prevent policy.

The Prevent strategy — what is being done Prevent is part of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy called CONTEST and ‘its aim is to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism’ (HM Government 2011: 6). Interest for such a strategy increased after the London bombings in July 2007 and then the Lee Rigby murder in 2013. Since its initial inception in 2007 the Prevent strategy was revised in 2011 and a shift in its view can be witnessed.

The 2007 edition made a distinction between extremism and violent extremism but now these two terms are viewed as one and the same, as emphasised in one of Cameron’s most recent speeches on extremism at the UN General Assembly 2014:

“As evidence emerges about the backgrounds of those convicted of terrorist offences, it is clear that many of them were initially influenced by preachers who claim not to encourage

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Candidate number: 129427 violence, but whose world view can be used as justification for it … we need to deal with all forms of extremism — not just violent extremism” (Cameron 2014).

The Prevent strategy is therefore taking a tougher stance on individuals views but because of this stance could inadvertently provide more support for ISIS by tarring all British Muslims (Jones 2015). The Prime Minister in his speeches however makes it very clear that his governments strategy is not targeting Islam (Cameron 2014) but recognises that the country’s most serious threat from terrorism comes from ‘Al Qaeda, it’s affiliates and like minded organisations’ (HM Government 2011: 5). Consequently the strategy focuses heavily on Islam and British Muslims although it expresses to prevent all terrorism including from far right-wing extremists.

However there is a danger of targeting a minority in society, when addressing a complex social phenomenon. Community cohesion is about finding a balance between the minority and the majority in a society. Connolly (1998) highlights the negative effect a policy directed at a minority can have and draws attention to the necessity of whole-school approaches. Connolly (1998) describes how a school approach to tackle anti-racism and improve multiculturalism targeted primarily boys which created a distinct masculine ethos thus increasing the tendency for South Asian children to be racially abused. Likewise as the Prevent strategy highlights Muslims and Islam those reading this policy will likely do the same, further isolating a section of the British community (Awan 2012), which does not help to create community cohesion.

The success of the Prevent Strategy 2011 to date is difficult to assess as it is complicated to measure not just because of its nature to safeguard individuals but because of the many facets it involves. However some argue because fewer people are now travelling to Syria and due to the lack of further events on the scale of the 7/7 bombings, it has been a success (Knowles 2015). There are also examples of successful initiatives outlined in Prevent (HM Government 2011) but its arguable success is muted by the double increase in terrorist cases that have been processed through the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK within the last four years (The Times 2015: 11).

The Prevent strategy talks about ideology, identity and community as key factors that drive an individual into terrorism. It does mention discrimination and socio-economic disadvantage as being part of the argument but the work Prevent focuses on is directed at tackling extremist ideology and creating positive identities and communities. This fits in well with Sageman (2008) and Wicktorwicz (2005) theories on radicalisation both of which have been criticised by Kundnani (2015) for essentially lacking depth as to the conditions surrounding the decisions individuals make to begin their path to radicalisation, and for lacking clarity as to the difference between individuals joining non-violent Islam groups to radical Islamist groups.

Moreover the Prevents focus on ideology is in contrast to the way we learn about other extremist movements such as the Nazi’s, where we learn more about the Warsaw Pact as a reason for their rise, than its ideology. In other words their may be certain conditions shaping this ideology that are �22

Candidate number: 129427the root cause for such extremism that is potentially overlooked with this focus. The Prevent Strategy initiatives have focused more on targeting ideology than community cohesion, which is highlighted by the diminishing efforts and status of the governments Community Cohesion policy (Munro et al., 2010; Thomas 2015).

Much of the Prevent work occurs within education institutions (Knowles 2015) and from the 1 July 2015 it becomes a legal duty for all public bodies including educational institutions to adhere to it. The Prevent Strategy states that terrorist ideologies are more likely to flourish in places which do not contest and challenge them implying that educational institutions need to provide a more balanced view. It also seeks to help public bodies including educational institutions to be aware and understand the risks of radicalisation, how it works, and what would be an effective response.

The education section of Prevent 2011 is divided into two sections ‘schools and children’ and ‘higher and further education’ and makes no direct reference to early years education, despite how distinct early years education can be from primary education. What it actually demands of educational institutions is in my opinion unclear and talks about initiatives that most schools are or should be already implementing, such as school safety and presenting a balanced unbiased curriculum. I therefore have extracted a number of statements that might be considered by early years providers:

• Challenge extremism and the ideology of terrorism and effectively rebut those who are apologists for it (Prevent 2011: 63).

• To develop ‘a positive and inclusive ethos that championed democratic values and human rights’ (Prevent 2011: 68)

• Staff can help to identify, and to refer to the relevant agencies, children whose behaviour suggests that they are being drawn into terrorism or extremism (Prevent 2011: 69).

• New standards should better enable schools to take action against staff who demonstrate unacceptable views (Prevent 2011: 70)

Nicky Morgan has said that toddlers must learn “fundamental British values” and that schools and nurseries that do not “support this aim (Prevent)” should not receive public money’ (BBC 2015). The Conservative MP and former shadow home secretary David Davis however has said, “It is unworkable. I have to say I cannot understand what they (nursery staff) are expected to do” (Mendick and Verkaik 2015). He goes on to mention how it will create an army of teacher spies and will “sow seeds of mistrust” within society (Mendick and Verkaik 2015). General secretary Russel Hobby declares

“Its really important that nurseries are able to establish a strong relationship of trust with families, as they are often the first experience the families will have of the education system. Any suspicions that they are evaluating families for ideology could be quite counterproductive” (Mendick and Verkaik 2015). �23

Candidate number: 129427Others such as Purina Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association have criticised the lack of guidance for early years settings (Guant 2015) while ‘Michael Freeston, director of quality improvement at the Pre-School Learning Alliance has said its important practitioners take a proportionate and considered response to what is still an emerging issue’ (Guant 2015). He goes on to explain that reviewing existing equality, behaviour and safeguarding policies should be the first port of call (Guant 2015). Despite some criticism some nurseries have already included, a preventing violent extremism section to their safeguarding policy, such as Rawson Junior, Infant and Nursery school and St Bede’s Catholic Infant and Nursery School to name but a few. This suggests some settings feel this is necessary as they have produced these policies long before it became a legal obligation.

However the de-radicalisation strategies taken by the UK Government such as Prevent are what Elshimi (2015: 110) describes as ‘characterised by the absence of detailed research, little or no empirical evidence for policy development’. In other words they are predicting what the issue to de-radicalisation may be within their securitisation agenda, without any substantial evidence. Aiming to govern and secure the unknowable future has its dangers as Prevent has preempted a threat (Muslims) before that threat exists, while in the process damaging that threats political identity and association with Britishness (Martin 2014). It is a top-down approach the UK government is taking to the threat of extremism which may appear to be having a surface effect but instead may exacerbate the root, causing, further ‘marginalisation, and stigmatisation of Muslim communities’ (Awan 2012: 1158).

Generally the literature implies there is a negative feeling towards the implementation of Prevent within Early Years settings. The Government insists though that, “Schools, including nurseries have a duty of care to their pupils and staff … we do expect them to take action when they observe behaviour of concern. It is important that children are taught fundamental British values in an age appropriate way” (Tuft 2015).

A study undertaken by the Department for Education DFE in 2010 looks at how schools have responded to Prevent. It concluded that Secondary schools are more aware of Prevent especially those in higher deprived urban areas, and that faith primary schools are more aware of prevent than non-faith primary schools. The majority (84%) of schools ‘say they know at least something about their role in preventing violent extremism, and only a minority 20% regard this role as unimportant’ (Philips et al. 2010: 12). The majority of schools have a lead designated person on implementing Prevent in their school and most use their ethos and values, pastoral or PSHE curriculum in building pupils resilience to violent extremism. A large proportion (74%) of schools have obtained information about preventing violent extremism for either DFE, local authorities or the media. Most schools say they have not received continuing professional development and would like more training related to preventing violent extremism. Also In primary schools they are more active on community cohesion as their understanding and their activity around community cohesion is better. �24


This study was composed of eight hundred and four English primary and secondary schools and used quantitative surveying to obtain the data. Although it generated data from a large pool of schools it is still limited in three decisive areas. Contextually, it fails to include nurseries or specifically early years within its remit and fails to make clear if these schools are private or state run schools which are subject to Ofsted inspections. Methodologically it fails to capture in-depth qualitative data that might gleam richer results and conceptually it fails to obtain practitioners views on the Prevent Strategy, its effectiveness, relevance and implementation.

Similar strategies to the Prevent in the UK have also been seen abroad. Australia’s initial response was to focus almost exclusively on the Muslim community as this community was seen as the community threatening the ‘other’ (rest of Australian society). Education was a part of this policy but they have since softened their counter-terrorism measures which has been argued to of had a more positive result, especially in encouraging programmes with a broader approach (Aly 2015). In contrast Germany have utilised existing policies they were using for far right extremists in addressing the threat of violent extremism. As a result ‘these German policy measures do not necessarily create suspect communities’, as they have in the UK (Berczyk & Vermeulen 2015: 103). Within the German context a heavy emphasis is placed on educational methods and the teaching of democracy which involve local communities targeting individuals rather than communities (Berczyk & Vermeulen 2015: 103). These policies in essence hold integration and community cohesion as significant to preventing violent extremism.

Conclusion The literature makes it abundantly clear there are many different paths individuals take towards displaying signs of violent extremism. The literature highlights areas such as identity, racism, community integration, ideology and religion as potential catalysts, but a surprising discovery was how young a lot of former or current violent extremists were when they first got acquainted with such a culture. Similarly as schools report more and more children to the Channel program we have begun to witness individuals as young as three raising concerns. Consequently then there is a case for using early years education to address this.

The Prevent program therefore looks to remind schools of their importance in thwarting this alarming trend in extremist behaviour but many involved with early years education have expressed their doubts over the positive effect this policy can have. Little information is provided on what early years practitioners are actually expected to do. For this reason it will be interesting to explore exactly how practitioners are interpreting this policy and how they are implementing it. As the literature highlights research similar to this has been carried out for primary and secondary schools but not for early years educational settings.

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Candidate number: 129427In addition it will be alluring to examine practitioners thoughts on the relationship between early years education and community cohesion. Studies revealed in the literature review explore how early year settings can improve the lives of those passing through and how it can cultivate more equity in communities. A practitioners’ perspective could therefore offer further detail on what else early years settings can do to support community cohesion and ultimately prevent extremism.

Yet there are some that feel the current education system in this country is conducive to an extremist society because of the pressures of exams and league tables, leaving little time for learning how simply to interact and form relationships with each other. A situation that makes community cohesion that bit more difficult. To analyse practitioners thoughts here will also help to illuminate this area.

Therefore to understand how the role of early years education can play a part in preventing violent extremism it is key we comprehend the gaps in knowledge this literature review has unveiled and that this current study seeks to fill.

3. Methodology �26

Candidate number: 129427This research aims to analyse early years practitioners’ views on the Prevent strategy 2011 and the role of early years education in promoting social cohesion. This is achieved through two inter-related research questions.

- What are practitioners’ perspective on the role of education in supporting community

cohesion?

- What are the practitioners’ perspectives on the Prevent strategy?

Research design My questions call for straightforward descriptive answers and I shall provide these answers through an examination of the practitioners opinions. My aim is to evaluate both early years education and its effectiveness in the community and to assess the implementation, awareness and opinions of the Prevent strategy 2011. To put it simply, the research questions are asking what is the situation and what is going on, in light of new government policy. The gap in the literature suggests more qualitative data is needed regarding this topic so I therefore have chosen an exploratory research design frame that lends itself well to interviewing as a technique for gathering rich qualitative data.

Explorative research is used as the design frame but elements of evaluation, comparative and ethnography approaches were also considered in this plan. The comparative approach would have been useful to compare different early year educational settings but felt the sample size was not large enough to base the project solely on such a foundation. Similarly, ethnographic research seemed appropriate as the research questions focus on individuals’ opinions and studies the early year practitioner. Nevertheless given the short time available for the study it was hard to immerse myself long enough in the educational settings to gain from this type of research. An evaluative mode of research on the other hand would allow me to unearth the prospective effects of the Prevent policy change, that occurred on 1 July 2015 and also of the possible positive effects early years has on uniting communities. However timing the interviews for after this date became problematic for the participants, as many were on holiday then. Instead I felt the best method was an explorative approach, although I am aware it is a contested social research method (White and Roth 2009). The idea to use this method stemmed from wanting to explore more about my interests as discussed in the introduction. For example can early years settings play a part in preventing extremism? What has been going on in these settings with regard to Prevent? Explorative searches often involve complex situations (White and Roth 2009) such as the current one. This method, therefore, allows me to delve into the unknown and possibly uncover information that can then be further investigated, which fits into Kowalczyk (2015) description of this Method.

Sample �27

Candidate number: 129427I adopted a convenience sample (Bryman 2008) as I interviewed only the individuals that agreed to do it and that were know to me. I also sought a purposive sample (Thomas 2009) as I only asked those who were early year practitioners. In total I invited ten early years practitioners to take part in the study but only five eventually agreed. My sampling techniques and sample size however do have implications for my findings which I discuss in the limitations section.

I also tried to obtain interviews from practitioners working in different settings, as each setting can equip practitioners differently, with varying policies and training for example. The five participants came from four different settings two from the public sector and three from the private. As my literature indicated private schools could be more of a problem than public funded schools due to the regulatory system for independent schools not displaying much clarity in their regulations. I therefore wanted to obtain data from these settings as well. One of the three practitioners from the private sector was working internationally but still under the British system, teaching the same national curriculum as that in the UK. The other two participants from the private sector were working within the UK at the same setting and had considerable experience in other early year educational environments, which they both drew from within their interviews. The remaining participants were from the state funded system in the UK, one of which had just finished their PGCE so had little experience but was equipped with the latest practices and theories on teaching. In total four of the practitioners worked within the Southeast region of England.

I knew each participant through either working with them or working in the setting they also worked in. Four knew me to a certain degree with only one knowing of me. This played a crucial role in obtaining the interviews as those who did not know me as well, declined to take part. Additionally, this relationship produced as expectation on their part that I already had some understanding of early years education and their setting, so inadvertently I was positioned as an equal to the interviewee. This had both a positive and negative effect. For example it did help the participants to stay relaxed and avoid going into unnecessary detail but also meant that participants often assumed I understood them when actually their points needed further clarification.

Data gathering To gather the data I employed semi-structured interviews and used an electronic recording device to capture the data. The recording device had an external microphone fitted which provided better sound quality but did pick up background noises that made parts of two interviews in two different settings inaudible. Nevertheless by recording every word allowed for more precise interpretation of the interview than if I were to merely take a few notes from the conversation.

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Candidate number: 129427The semi-structured interview format allowed me to stay focused on my aim but gave me the freedom to follow up points when necessary. In other words it allowed me to ‘capture unexpected issues and information’ (Somekh and Lewin 2005: 42) that fitted in well with my exploratory approach. This allowed for the interviewee to raise themes themselves that I could then further probe if necessary. To aid me in the interview I used an interview schedule (Appendix C) consisting of my research questions and some sub headings underneath which reminded me to explore certain points within the interview.

Three of the interviews took place at the participants’ work place while two were conducted over Skype. Interestingly those I interviewed over Skype opened up more and spoke more critically about their work place than those who were interviewed within their work place.

For research question number one I looked to discuss early year education policies, child inclusion methods and community involvement. For research question number two I discussed their understanding, awareness and opinions on the Prevent strategy, training needs and recommendations for effective implementation. I asked question one first, to provide an easier entry for the participants into the interview. This prediction worked well as the participants had far more to say on community cohesion than the Prevent strategy.

Each interview lasted approximately thirty minutes but I realise a longer interview potentially would have allowed for richer data. However after speaking with potential interviewees prior to the project design, I realised that logistically this would not be possible as all of them worked full time and did not have time for an hour interview.

Data analysis After replaying the recording at a later date I then made a partial transcription of selected passages and although it was time consuming Somekh and Lewin (2005) suggest it yields excellent data. I then used a constant comparative method to find themes or categories (Thomas 2009) which involved analysing the words from the transcriptions. I first read through each interview highlighting key words or phrases that I felt were relevant to the two research questions. I then analysed each interview in two parts, first looking for quotes relating to research question number one and then I looked for quotes relating to research question number two. After each participant had quotes relating to the two research questions I then re-read the transcriptions and wrote down what each interviewee spoke about with emphasis whether it had relevance to my aim or not. This allowed me not to miss any data that could have an indirect relevance to my aim. For example changes in children’s play that participant two and five mentioned which at first did not appear directly relevant. After this I looked for recurring themes amongst the data I extracted and presented these themes with a discussion on each within the research findings section of this project. �29


Ethical considerations Through out this project ethical issues have had a huge impact on the style this research plan has pursued. The topic is both sensitive and potentially fractious in nature. When incorporating such a theme as extremism with young children it can often appear to some as incomprehensible (Davis as cited by Mendick and Verkaik 2015) and daunting as my sample size success rate demonstrates. Therefore I aimed my efforts at those I knew, where a familiar face on such a topic can help dilute the ominous themes this project seeks to explore.

I had to make sure that my interview themes were ones which would not be too contentious for my participants to tackle. I had to think of their welfare and make sure the research questions reflected that thought process. I also made sure I did not mention the gender of each individual to protect their anonymity or provide any description of the settings they worked in for the same reason.

Before even an interview was arranged I made sure the participant would be willing to consider taking part by verbally explaining to them what the project was about. If they were interested I then presented to them the participant information sheet which outlines what the interview is about and what it would involve (Appendix A). If they then verbally agreed to take part I would arrange the interview but before the interview they would receive a consent form (Appendix B), which simply reiterates the main points from the participant information sheet. Once the consent form was signed only then did the interview take place.

Although this study was considered a low risk project by the University of Sussex’s ethical review board which granted ethical approval, I still maintained an ‘opted in’ consent style approach, where I include only those I ask. A negative result of this was the exclusion of other participants that could have been of value in offering insights into this evaluation.

Limitations Every research project has its limitations and this project is no exception. Some limitations have already been hinted at but I will now highlight the main limitations this project has been faced with. The major limitation with this project is the small sample size and the convenience and purposive sample approach. Although the sample is small, opening it up to criticism (Thomas 2009) each participant represents a whole early years setting of which thirty or more practitioners may be a part of. In most cases these participants do talk about other settings as well which can represent a whole new group of early year practitioners. However I am aware such a small sample makes generalisations of the study findings much less reliable (Bryman 2008).

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Taking a convenience approach can also produce selection bias as having hand picked the sample could involve selecting the people with the data I want and rules out many other participants that could be of greater value. Generalising from such a sample can also be problematic as Bryman (2008: 183) reflects, through discussing the impossibilities of generalising from such samples, but does explain they can ‘provide a springboard for further research’.

Another limitation was time, not only to gain a greater sample size but also time for interviewing participants. An hour interview would have provided much more time for the participants to elaborate on some of their points instead they were restricted to some degree within the thirty minute time frame. As well as this there are of course other types of research design that might of yielded greater results, for example an evaluation or case study approach. Despite this within the time frame and being conscious of the themes presented the explorative design, using a semi-structured interviews, still allows for unique empirical qualitative data that can be debated amongst the literature.

4. Research findings and analysis

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Candidate number: 129427This section will analyse the data gathered on the two research questions. Firstly I discuss how practitioners see the role of early years education in supporting community cohesion, and then I examine the practitioners perspectives on the Prevent strategy.

How do practitioners see the role of early years education in supporting

community cohesion

Community cohesion It was clear all the practitioners value the role that early years education plays in supporting the community. Practitioner two explains how it “helps children respect different religious beliefs and aids in respecting each other” while practitioner five mentions how it helps get them “ready for school and gets them working together”. Which supports practitioner fours comments on how it allows children to mix with different children. Practitioner four also adds “early years education supports parents with their children who might not have the knowledge or resources in which to educate their children” and it can also “give children experiences they might not be able to get”. Practitioner three on the other hand raises the importance of how “early years, allows children to witness positive role models in their lives apart from just there mums and dads”.

On the whole their opinions suggest early years can support the community in a positive way with many of their comments supporting opinions raised in the literature review. For example the comments made by practitioner four on supporting families that might not have the knowledge and expertise to educate their children links well with statements made by UNESCO (2007) who express how early years education can reduce social inequality by giving children a similar start in life. If inequality is reduced then surely that should provide for a more cohesive society which could prevent the pull of extremism which some suggest is socially motivated (Suleiman 2009). It has also been written that, ‘extremist messages are less likely to find support, and are more easily isolated, in a cohesive environment’ (HM Government 2009: 9). The practitioners comments imply that early years does have a role to play as they vocalise it can help to generate a cohesive community.

Social development I felt that comments the practitioners made about community cohesion were directly related to relationships and getting on with each other hence why I next sought to pursue this line of enquiry by asking about social development. Practitioner one felt that, “social development was just as important as literacy and numeracy and one of the primary goals of a nursery” which practitioner two also agreed with. Practitioner two also mentioned a number of areas in the curriculum, Personal Social and Emotional Development (PSED), communication and language, outdoor environment, where this development can be

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Candidate number: 129427naturally practised while practitioner one moved on to talking about it more theoretically. Practitioner one voiced that,“children learn such skills through positive reinforcement and that learning what is right and wrong is not innate but has to be taught” which if this is the case highlights the significance of early year settings to a child’s learning. Practitioner four also highlights the importance of staff as positive role models for children claiming “children copy what they see in adults”. Other responses also indirectly refer to the importance of the adult like practitioner three’s response which suggests the adults teach manners and how to behave, “We encourage the children with please and thank you … we have the golden rules”.

Interestingly three practitioners raise the importance for children to learn what is ‘right and wrong’ which suggests social behaviour is a significant area for practitioners within the curriculum. Practitioner four hopes they are achieving this ‘right and wrong’ understanding within their setting “but sometimes they (the children) are also learning this at home”. Thus referring that all adults in a child’s life are significant in their development supporting a case that adults in the community need to work together.

The comments raised here imply early years settings and its practitioners are vital in a child’s development especially when encouraging skills that need to be taught such as what is ‘right and wrong’. Although ideas of ‘right and wrong’ are entirely subjective and may vary, the practitioners advise a positive social start is a valuable part of early years education. Heckman (2013) supports this view and adds a positive early years education can generate positive results later in life such as better employment and less crime. This can only enhance the prospects of a cohesive society and remains significant in light of Schmids (2014) view that extremists more often than not stick to opinions gained early in life. Thus implying, a positive social development early in life could be beneficial in avoiding an extremist path.

Children’s play Social development as the practitioners pronounce is a key aspect for children in their care but some stated the task of developing this has become increasingly difficult because of the way children now play. Practitioner one explains how “children now learn through their interests which is the best way to teach them what is right and wrong”. Yet practitioner two describes “this makes social development particularly difficult as normal play for children these days is more independent as more children play on computers”. Social development therefore could get increasingly hard to teach, and where children might once have learnt some social skills (naturally playing) this is now having to be physically addressed in early education as children’s play, especially at home, does not necessarily now involve this. As khan (2015b) mentioned in her documentary, childhood leaves a significant effect and failure to integrate with others in the UK can make the path

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Candidate number: 129427to Jihad much more attractive. However it is not just the failure of an individual or group to integrate but the failure of others also not to integrate that individual or group. One major attribute to integrating can be seen in the story of Ahmad al-Shayea who ended up committing a terrorist attack in which he was severely injured. He was subsequently nursed back to health by American medical staff who treated him and because of the kindness and love he was shown his extremist views considerably altered (Khan 2015a).

Pressure I next wanted to explore how the practitioners worked on social development but only one went into any detail about this so consequently I decided to explore the reasonings behind this. All practitioners agree that social development is taught as more ‘on going’ than discretely. Four practitioners expressed it was difficult to adequately dedicate enough time to this area or felt restricted by certain pressures. While practitioner one exclaimed “we do have time to teach skills related to social development but the classroom is a very forced situation” which could undoubtedly effect natural social play. Practitioners one classroom and routine however was not a natural early years environment and in my opinion I was surprised it was being passed as one. It was more like a key stage one classroom designed for academic progress than play based learning. This classroom was in the setting not subject to Ofsted inspections and reflects the concerns the Prevent (2011) strategy raised, where private schools could be more of a problem with extremism than public-funded schools due to their regulatory system.

Practitioner two remarks “we need to spend more time on social skills” as does practitioner five whose experience is markedly less than the other participants which I feel is significant as this suggests that even with limited experience this observation is obvious. Moreover both of these practitioners are from the public system.

Practitioner two explains “although we could spend more time on it, it is not necessarily planned for it is something teachers do naturally”. Practitioner three deliberates on the pressures of education and hints at why some feel not enough time is spent addressing this area. They mention “there is a pressure to get the children ready for school and that there are pressures from Ofsted". Practitioner four also adds “as peoples expectations can be a little bit high … sometimes you can lose the play side if you are concentrating too much on the education side of things like writing their names”. Thus implying there is an academic pressure. When asked about where these expectations are coming from they replied the Government and (Ofsted), which highlights social development is just as likely to be compromised in public schools as private schools. Practitioner three comments on the pressures from parents saying:

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Candidate number: 129427 “Some want to know what they are learning like why can their child write their name at home but not at their nursery whereas some parents allow their children just to be children and enjoy the (early years) experience”.

Practitioner two also mentions the pressure from the Government to reach certain targets, expressing “there are no real targets for social development that they are mainly for reading, writing and maths”. Practitioner two further proclaims “what I don’t agree with is pressure on teachers to get children to a certain place because then it takes away what the child needs and then it’s all about the school”.

Undoubtedly the practitioners are not happy with the pressures they find themselves under and it clearly is affecting certain areas of the curriculum such as social development. The data shows that on the whole more time is needed to work on the social development of children but there are pressures that are restricting this. Pressures from limited time, parents, targets, the Government and Ofsted. Malik (2013) in their research agrees with this suggesting early years is becoming too formal suggesting ‘school readiness’ is now dominating policy pronouncements. Miller (2013) also remarks on this by advocating league tables and exams results put pressures on teachers to stick rigidly to the curriculum which does not allow them to confront with some of the current issues of the day (Miller 2013). This can ultimately have a negative effect as Davies (2009: 190) notes ‘the current obsession with excellence and standards may actually be conducive to extremism’. Essentially she explains, this is because the pressures from exams do not help create secure identities (Davies 2009).

Educational approach Having discussed social development I was then interested to discuss other factors that help contribute to and build relationships, and as most of the practitioners worked in settings that were fairly multicultural I was therefore interested to explore their ideas on inclusion. Practitioner five explained their setting “included the children by celebrating various religions but because the school was Christian ignored quite a lot of them”. It can be argued that this sort of practice can come under scrutiny for generating religious fundamentalism (Mia 2014) and exclusion, but ultimately it can result in presenting a monolithic view of society to children. Further to this, practitioner two even mentions “it is possible to not discuss any religious education at all in early years … although that would be bad practice”. Correspondingly this resonates well with one study mentioned in the literature review which talks about the dangers of education not providing a pluralistic perspective, resulting in racism and a unitary view of society (Carrington and Short 1995) for the dominant group and a sense of alienation in the minority group. Where ‘extremism is often related to a call of purity’ (Davies 2009: 190) it could be debated that there is now a strong need to make sure schools are providing a pluralistic educational approach.

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Candidate number: 129427Identities Practitioner three explains they had “over twenty-nine different languages spoken at our setting and we help the children feel included by teaching them English”. While practitioner two stated they had “around thirty nationalities amongst the children in my care and we look at individuals skin colours and talked about why people have different skin tones and why we need to make them all feel included”. They also looked at their countries on maps and celebrated these different places encouraging the children to be proud of where they have come from. Similarly practitioner four points out “children need to learn that everyone is different so we try things like halal food and cater for them religiously and culturally”. Practitioner four continues by adding “we encourage children to ask other children about the differences they see in each other and not feel shy about it”. These methods essentially are associated with enhancing a child’s identity within the class or group and giving them confidence to be who they are. This can be positive in a sense that a lack of identity and belonging is argued to make individuals vulnerable to radicalisation (Philips 2015a BBC Radio 4) but can also become a negative in the way that it is done. Davies (2009: 189) for example writes we need to be careful about the way we ascribe identities ‘rather than push children into camps by encouraging them to learn about Asian food or visit the Sikh temple’ education should celebrate a hybrid of identities. The practitioners discuss inclusion methods that could pose a risk to singling out individualities rather than commonalities which the hybrid identity encompasses. Davies (2009) claims this celebration of a mixture of identities could help repel the attraction of a violent extremist path.

Community Involvement All practitioners described ways in which they involve the community and all felt it was useful for the children and for the parents that are able to get involved. Practitioner three for example describes how “part of our ethos is to get out into the community and hold special events for parents” but I felt the examples provided were more beneficial to the parents and setting than to the actual children. Despite this parts of the community were being brought together. Likewise practitioner one talks about bringing parents on school trips and inviting them for school events at Easter and Christmas. Similarly practitioner five describes how in their setting “we involve the community and children by going to church together”. This method however of involving the community clearly could isolate others of a different belief which could hamper community cohesion.

Practitioner four talks about bringing outside agencies into the setting such as police, dentists, doctors and music people allowing the children to discuss future roles they could play in society and make them aware of different types of people. While practitioner two describes a similar approach:

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Candidate number: 129427 “One of our topics is about people around us where we look at people in the community and have them sometimes come in to visit…we also involve the parents and for things like book week or special celebrations although there could be more topics involving the community…I do feel though as children move up the school there is less parental involvement”.

The practitioners all used slightly different ways of involving the community although they all follow the same curriculum. This demonstrates how interpretive the curriculum can be, as pointed out by practitioner two. What was interesting was the point raised about parental involvement decreasing as the children go further up the school which could dispel the community involvement earlier achieved. In addition to this only one practitioner suggested more could be achieved with community involvement possibly implying the practitioners felt what they were already doing was enough. Community involvement therefore appears to be happening in early years settings and is thought of as useful and important by the practitioners. Significant, as the Prevent strategy (2011) strongly advocates the importance of community integration and togetherness in resisting terrorism.

Practitioners’ perspectives on the Prevent strategy

Awareness All of the practitioners had not heard of the Prevent Strategy or about their role in preventing violent extremism, despite these interviews taking place either days before it became a legal duty or just after. Even the practitioner who had recently finished their teacher training exclaimed the Prevent strategy had not featured at all on their course. Although this sample is small some of the practitioners are part of a wider network of early years centres, with one being part of a company with over fifty nationwide early years centres. This suggests if one member of staff has not heard about Prevent within that company there is likely be many more centres that are also not aware. A surprising finding considering the governments report five years ago claimed 50% of primary schools were aware of Prevent and 84% of schools said they knew something about their role in preventing violent extremism (Philips et al. 2010). It comes as even more of surprise in light of new figures that place the Southeast as having referred the most individuals to the Prevents Channel program (Hamilton 2015). Which suggests the Southeast (where most of the practitioners work) is either more aware of Prevent or there are just more cases of extreme behaviour.

Initial Opinions Their initial opinions were interestingly very mixed. Two practitioners agreed with it, two did not and one was worried about it but did not agree or disagree with it. This contrasts slightly with what was discovered in the literature. On the whole the literature found mostly negative opinions about it, but they tended to be heads of early year organisations or MPs rather than actual practitioners.

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Practitioner one did not agree with it saying:

“I’m not sure I agree going after people with extreme views. I think that is a dangerous territory to go down. Lots of things can be deemed extreme … this is probably to do with radical Islam I imagine it’s specifically targeted at Islam. Extremists views per se should not be prevented you need extreme views in society, I don't think it should be policed like this”.

Their thoughts naturally highlight Islam and policing with extremism which reflects on some of Kundnani’s (2015) and Jones’s (2015) points as raised in the literature review, where they imply Prevent is more focused on Islamic extremism. Similarly practitioner four also did not really agree with it but for completely different reasons. They stated “I do not understand how this could relate with early years education or what we can do to support it” which links well with the comments made by the conservative MP David Davis (Mendick and Verkaik 2015). Practitioner two however was unsure as they felt something should be in place but were concerned about how it worked with such young children. Practitioner three said, “it is relevant but maybe more for our older children” advocating the child needs to be at an age where they are understanding more for this policy to take effect, which conflicts with (Connolly’s approach 1998). Although the literature did put forward that children as young as three have been reported for displaying extremist behaviour (Churchill 2015) the practitioners appear unsure of how such young children can demonstrate extremist behaviour. Practitioner five on the other hand expressed, “it is a good idea because teachers need to be made aware of it” but did not offer any coherent reason for this. Evidently their opinions differed considerably but I felt their reasonings lacked depth, understandably, as a result of their limited awareness and knowledge of Prevent.

Identifying The practitioners also brought up issues with identifying extreme behaviour. Everyone agreed it would be difficult to identify a child that is possibly displaying extremist qualities although three practitioners claimed they had witnessed extreme behaviour. In fact in finding this sample, out of the ten individuals I asked for interviews, I discovered a further three more cases of which two had been reported to the authorities. In total including the sample’s examples I encountered a set of six cases connected with extremism, five of which involved children who were around the early years or early primary school age. The cases however varied considerably. Furthermore even though the practitioners had decided extremist behaviour would be hard to identify, two exclaimed they would be able to identify it if there was lots of repeated behaviour of it. Nevertheless all shared concerns about this part of the policy and suggested more guidelines are needed.

Practitioner one referred to a child in their school who was a confessed Neo-Nazi but was not of primary school age. When I enquired about what was being done about it they said they were not sure but said,“if the child’s friends around them could challenge their ideas it would make it easier”.

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Candidate number: 129427This highlights the theory of social identity mentioned in the literature review where by individuals form groups to enhance their identity (Mcleod 2008), but it also illuminates the point that there are other forms of extremism that also need addressing other than simply Islamic extremism. Moreover it signifies the importance of the role of educational practitioners who might be able to challenge extreme views that the social bubble a child is in cannot. Practitioner two also talks about a particular case which I will not divulge into for ethical reasons, but explained they were unsure if this example would come under Prevent, which indicates the obliqueness of the policy. In addition practitioner two also raises the issue “some settings might not want to alert authorities to such behaviour for risk of damaging their setting”, I felt this was significant as out of the six cases I came across only two had been reported. Differing slightly practitioner three discusses the extreme behaviour they have witnessed involving children playing violent games with pretend guns and bombs and weapons and raises the question is this extreme behaviour according to Prevent? Practitioner four on the other hand said, “it would be difficult to identify as it is more likely to be the family than the child displaying signs of extremism” pointing out their view, children do not express extremist views. At the age of child we are talking about this could be right, children may parrot and repeat what they have heard from adults, cartoons and computer games, rather than have understanding of what they are uttering. Children though could grow into such behaviour believing its acceptable because no one has said otherwise. The question is do we speak to the child or the family or both? Conolly (1998: 195) suggests we continue to use the excuse of innocence around young children which “constitutes the biggest obstacle to the development of a successful and comprehensive multicultural anti-racist strategy among infant children” when actually they should be actively brought into such discourse.

Exploring this area has identified that young children are implicated but establishing whether behaviour falls within the Prevent policy can be unclear. It also raises concerns about how some settings deal with extremists views. Practitioner one for example did not know what was happening with the child that confessed to being a Neo-Nazi. How long then will it be until the rest of his social group think like that? If the Prevent strategy is to work, all settings need to be aware of it and be able to clearly understand it. They need to be utilising its support in a way that will not damage the reputation of their setting or the individual, that could merely be parroting words or behaviour witnessed elsewhere.

Community effect Whilst discussing the issues of identifying extreme behaviour, the effect of reporting on it was also deliberated. All practitioners felt it could damage community relations with practitioner one going as far as calling it the “anti-Islamic extremist strategy” which other commentators on this have not explicitly implied but have felt this policy could be damaging towards parts of the British community (Jones 2015). Practitioner two said “cases would have to be dealt with really sensitively as our parents could form views of us”. Although Khan (2015b) presents a story of a Muslim mum who got called into her sons primary school to speak with the teacher who expressed concern over her

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Candidate number: 129427sons extreme views. As a result this made the mum realise she also had extreme views and that this must be rubbing off on her son. She later stopped attending a particular group that she felt was cultivating her extreme views. Speaking with parents directly can therefore sometimes produce positive effects but the general feeling from this sample is to remain cautious. Practitioner three said “you have to be careful not to discriminate or assume anything as this can damage community relations”. Equivalently practitioner four expressed concerns of discriminating and labelling certain kinds of backgrounds which resonates well with Himmelstein (1988) who comments on the dangers of careless use of the term extremist. Practitioner five on the other hand talks more about the importance of community cohesion indicating that the effects of this policy should be focused more on that.

These comments convey that community relations are of value and this policy could be damaging to that as having to identify extreme views, could ultimately discriminate and label parts of the community, supporting Conservative MP Davis’s comments that this policy will “sow seeds of mistrust” within society (Mendick and Verkaik 2015). Yet can this fear of discrimination do more damage than good? if extreme behaviour is witnessed can reporting it elsewhere (Channel program) simply incubate the problem where direct action (talking to parents) may essentially nip it in the bud.

Role of education After discussing issues with the policy I wanted to explore their ideas on early years education and whether it should be apart of the plan to Prevent violent extremism. Practitioner one voiced “extremism is not an educational problem and this policy would just add an extra burden to the role of a teacher”. They remarked on how the families of the girls who went to Syria (RT 2015) blamed the school to which they exclaimed “you cant blame schools”. Comparably practitioner four was not sure what early years education can do apart from continuing to support the child and their family develop and grow. The other three practitioners all felt education does play a role and that early years should be included in this policy and that there is no harm in teachers being more aware about it and looking out for it. Nevertheless they did voice concern over how it should and could be implemented.

Implementation While one practitioner did not feel this policy should be included within education, the other practitioners felt that firstly training would be needed, indicating not much has changed regarding training needs since 2010 (Philips et al; 2010). The practitioners expressed they wanted more training on what extremism is and how it is identified, reflecting the concerns raised over the meanings of the terms in section two. Practitioner two thinks, “there should be more of an understanding on different cultures and beliefs within schools” while practitioner five articulated that “the community cohesion and Prevent policies should be part of the same program”. This is significant as community cohesion is arguably the ultimate goal of Prevent but according to most of

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Candidate number: 129427the practitioners and some scholars mentioned in section two (Munro et al., 2010; Thomas 2015), this policy could have a negative effect on community relations.

It was evident that the practitioners had limited ideas regarding how this policy could and should be implemented, suggesting they were unsure on what extremism actually means and what the policy was really asking of them. These practitioners however are not alone as educationists have already expressed confusion over the definitions given for extremism and asked for more clarity to be provided (HM Government 2014) but have yet to receive any (HM Government 2015).

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5. Conclusion My research has discovered that extremist behaviour is being witnessed with very young children and now the obligatory nature of Prevent means that early year practitioners are obliged to address it in their settings. The Prevent policy however does not provide practitioners with enough clarity in which to do this with a positive effect. In fact the Prevent policy seems to be damaging the very entity it is ultimately trying to create — community cohesion.

By requesting practitioners to report suspected extremist behaviour raised concerns amongst my sample who suggested potentially it could simmer relations as they were worried of discriminating. With the Prevent focusing heavily on British Muslims there leaves little doubt as to whom the practitioners will also be centring their gaze.

The Prevent sees extremism as in issue with Islam and Muslims but fails to comprehend all reasons for radicalisation which implicates all of British society. The strategy does identify belonging, identity and community as important parts of the radicalisation process but its approach to this is unbalanced.

Early years education however can contribute to improving factors of belonging, identity and community as my research discovered. The practitioners commented on these elements and indicated the benefits these settings can provide for society. However not all of these settings were displaying a pluralistic approach and questions can be asked over the way inclusion is dealt with and identities celebrated in these settings. Therefore improving practitioners’ knowledge and awareness on these vital areas would be more promising to tackling extremism than training in how to identify it, which is the surface rather than root of the issue.

Belonging, identity and community are all vitally connected to socialisation. Yet social development the practitioners claim is restricted because of pressures imposed on them from organisations such as Ofsted, a point that was also noticed within section two. In an ever changing world with toys becoming ever more digitalised, often violent, social play for young children is increasingly more independent making social development in these settings absolutely fundamental for enhancing community relations.

Early years education is where skills such as friendship and kindness begin and community relations formed. So decreasing the importance of the community cohesion policy deflects attention away from the very areas that could potentially snuff out violent extremism.

Initially my intention was to analyse the implementation of Prevent in early year settings however as all the practitioners within my sample have not yet implemented it or were aware of it, my focus changed more towards community cohesion. As a result of this I have realised that social

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Candidate number: 129427development within education is fundamental even more so within our modern world, and alarmingly it appears the one area that is not given the priority it necessarily requires.

This project however raises a few questions. To what extent is the social development of children in the early years and at school being affected by other pressures? Why is knowledge of Prevent not widespread amongst the practitioners? and are all schools really providing a pluralistic education? A paradox also appeared in that although practitioners are working hard to include all the different types of children, their practices in fact could be isolating them more.

A small and convenient sample and the time allowance for each interview has limited the generalisations of the findings. A second round of interviews to further discuss findings I discovered from the initial interviews would have lent the findings more depth and rigour. Nevertheless my research suggests that further investigations need to be made on how inclusion and identities are taught and celebrated in schools, and how pressures in schools could be affecting social development?

Early years education does have a role in preventing violent extremism just as much as any other educational setting, but the political approach must also be balanced, and with policies such as Prevent the conditions for generating extremism may well be exacerbated.

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Appendix A

!

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET

To understand how the role of education for young children can play a role in preventing violent extremism

You are being invited to take part in a research study. Before you decide whether or not to take part, it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully.

This research seeks to explore the extent to which education for young children can be used as a tool to prevent violent extremism. This will involve evaluating interventions related to 1) Government led initiatives 2) educational practise.

The research visit will take place at your setting and will involve approximately a 30 minute interview, or longer depending on how much time you have extra.

You have been selected for this study because you are an early years practitioner. Your views in how young children operate and how best they develop would be invaluable to support this investigation. If you agree, you will be invited to an interview and with your consent it would be audio-recorded. The interview will explore your perceptions and experience of effective education for young children and your views on early radicalisation within this age range.

There are no possible disadvantages and risks of you taking part in this study, apart from the time required for the interview.

Your views will be important to allow me to evaluate the governments strategy in preventing extremism and it will help me to identify measures and processes that can increase the effectiveness of such strategies. The interview will also create the opportunity for you to reflect on these issues.

What you say will be kept confidential. I will use a pseudonym for you and your school to anonymise the reporting of what you say. However, confidentiality cannot be guaranteed for information about activities which require the researcher to show a duty of care or which break the law. With these qualifications, all care will be taken to protect your confidentiality and privacy in the collection, storage and publication of the research.

What should I do if I want to take part? If you do, you will be asked to sign the consent sheet before the interview. You may still withdraw at any time and without giving a reason until the submission of the research report to Sussex University 27.8.15. If you need anymore information please feel free to contact me. [email protected]

The research has been approved by the Ethics Committee (C-REC) of the University of Sussex. If you have any concerns about the way in which the study has been conducted, you should contact Naureen Durrani [email protected].

Thank you for taking time to read the information sheet.

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Participant

mailto:[email protected]


Appendix B

I agree to take part in the above University of Sussex research project. I have had the project explained to me and I have read and understood the Information Sheet, which I may keep for my records. I understand that agreeing to take part means that I am willing to:

❖ take part in an interview ❖ allow this interview to be audio recorded

I understand that if quotations are used from this data, this will be attributed using a pseudonym to offer me anonymity.

I understand that a pseudonym will be used for my school/nursery.

I understand that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed for information which I might disclose which breaks the law or requires the researcher to show a duty of care. I understand that my participation is voluntary, that I can choose not to participate in part or all of the project, and that I can withdraw at any stage of the project without being disadvantaged in any way.

I consent either verbally or by signing this sheet to the processing of my personal information for the purposes of this research study. I understand that such information will be treated as strictly confidential and handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

CONTACT INFORMATION: Name of Researcher: Henry Frankel Email: [email protected]

PROJECT TITLE: To understand how the role of education for young children can play a part in preventing violent extremism?

Name of Researcher: Henry Frankel

Name

Signature

Date

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Consent Form

mailto:[email protected]


Appendix C

Interview Schedule

Critical Question 1 – How do practitioners see the role of early years education in supporting community cohesion? - Early Years education, policies and practices that support this - Child inclusion methods - Community involvement

Critical Question 2 – What are the practitioners perspectives on the Prevent strategy? - Awareness of it - Opinions on it - Training needs in implementing the strategy - Recommendations for effective implementation

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ma in international education and development · school of education ma in international education...

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