Resource 4

ACT - Association for Citizenship Teaching
Community cohesion and the prevention of violent extremism
A resource for teachers to use in the classroom


Resource title
A web page of advice for teachers - Considering Terrorism
Source: http://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/theme?t=18
Outline
This online briefing paper considers ideas for using 'terrorism' as a class theme to explore all three strands of the secondary curriculum - social and moral responsibility, community involvement and political literacy, as well as addressing Primary Citizenship. This theme archive is intended to inspire teachers to use this particular theme to deliver Citizenship and have a frank discussion with pupils about terrorism, in a safe learning environment. The paper asks a number of critical questions:
  • What is terrorism?
  • What are 'terrorists' trying to achieve?
  • Are they achieving it?
  • At what cost?
  • How should society respond to terrorism and violence?
There is advice on how to explore these matters in relation to all three of the key concepts from the Citizenship education curriculum in KS 3&4 but the information can also be applied to Primary contexts. This briefing paper is also beneficial for teachers wanting to consider terrorism and violence in a broader context than a single religious or single group issue, for example, animal rights protest and environmental campaigners.

Furthermore, this resource shows how accessible tackling controversial issues can be and includes links to wider school guidance on extremism, other useful websites and classroom resources including OSDE (Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry) methodology, which has been developed by a group of educators, academics and civil society actors. To view an excellent classroom PowerPoint presentation resource produced by OSDE, designed to stimulate thought about terrorism, refer to weblink below.
Links across other subjects within resource
This work will be especially useful to teachers of RE.
Additional support
The following are useful links to DCSF advice concerning the whole school aspects of terrorism and violence: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/violentextremism/toolkitforschools/index.shtml

http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetails&PageMode=publications&ProductId=DCSF-00598-2007&

The following are useful links to resources to support the ideas in the web page: