Should teachers be expected to undertake the role of Counter-Terrorism Operatives? An investigation into the Prevent Duty Strategies requirement of UK secondary schools

Following the 7/7 London Transport Bombings, the UK Government embarked upon a policy trajectory that led to the education system being used to counter terrorism. Teachers were required to identify and report children and young people in their care if they considered them at risk of becoming radicalised and committing future terrorist attacks. This research investigates the role of UK secondary school teachers as both Government “Policy Actors” and “Counter-Terrorism Operatives”, classifying them as Counter-Terrorism “Policy Actors”. The study utilised Scheurich’s Policy Archaeology Methodology (Scheurich, 1994) and Hyatt’s Critical Policy Discourse Analysis Framework (Hyatt, 2013) to understand how this role was socially constructed within political and social contexts.

This research is significant because it adds to a small but growing volume of work utilising Scheurich’s policy archaeology. Furthermore, interviews with teachers were undertaken during a global pandemic where teachers were required to undertake activities far beyond their remit. At the same time, classroom spaces had been infiltrated by geopolitics and a rise in both the far-right and Black Lives Matter movements. It questions the response of teachers in this study who believe that identifying children and young people at risk of radicalisation is an important part of their role as educators. This thesis argues that the prevailing discourse uses power, seduction, suspicion, and diversion to persuade teachers that it is within their role. The study concludes that countering terrorism is a significant undertaking and should be led by people with expertise in this field and that secondary school teachers should be allowed to focus on the subject-specific education for which they are trained.