Preventing and countering extremism in the educational sector: Interrogating policy, challenging practices

Since the introduction of the Prevent Duty Guidance (PDG) in 2015, public-facing organisations have been legally obligated to report concerns about individuals suspected of engaging in extremism or being at risk of radicalisation. Since inception, critical commentators have argued that implementation of this directive has intensified extant problems created by the Prevent Strategy and accelerated unwarranted processes of securitisation within education, healthcare, and welfare sectors. To extend critical social policy research in this area, in this article we present findings from a qualitative empirical study involving schoolteachers responsible for implementing PDG in the United Kingdom. Our aim is to elucidate two interconnected and recurrent concerns expressed by participants responsible for counter-extremism safeguarding: the ‘suspectification’ of young Muslims and the deleterious effects of ‘false positive’ referrals. Our analysis illuminates ongoing and significant challenges encountered by educators implementing counter-extremism policies and highlights problematic effects on targeted individuals and communities.