The Prevent strategy at UK universities is designed to reduce the possibility of university students becoming radicalised and so working against them supporting or directly engaging in terrorist activities. In this study, we were concerned to reflect on our reading of some relevant literature by exploring the views of a sample of British Muslim students regarding Prevent and, in particular, its impact on their sense of personal and national identities as British Muslims. Nine British Muslim undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire. We discuss findings suggesting that there is limited general understanding and negative characterisations of Prevent, with perceptions of this policy being ineffective and inappropriate for higher education contexts. We suggest that more work is needed to develop relevant educational initiatives in the development of a tolerant society and that there is potential in discourse analysis to help reveal further insights into Muslim students’ identities.
AfzalS (2016) Students not Suspects. In: Proceedings of students: surveillance and academic freedom. A meeting on Prevent and Tier 4, York, 9 November 2016.
2.
AliAI (2014) A threat enfleshed: Muslim college students situate their identities amidst portrayals of Muslim violence and terror. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education27(10): 1243–1261.
3.
AngermullerJMaingueneauDWodakR (eds) (2014) The Discourse Studies Reader: Main Currents in Theory and Analysis. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
4.
ArthurJ (2015) Extremism and neo-liberal education policy: a contextual critique of the Trojan horse affair in Birmingham schools. British Journal of Educational Studies63(3): 311–328.
5.
BergerPLLuckmannT (1967) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
6.
CesaraniD (2016) The Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews 1933–1949. London: Macmillan Publishers.
CoppockVMcGovernM (2014) ‘Dangerous minds’? Deconstructing counter-terrorism discourse, radicalisation and the ‘psychological vulnerability’ of Muslim children and young people in Britain. Children & Society28(3): 242–256.
9.
CramI (2016) A legal scholar’s view of the Prevent obligations. Times Higher Education (no. 2237), 14–20January2016, 38.
10.
CrickB (2000) Essays on Citizenship. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
11.
Department for Education (DfE) (2015a) The Prevent Duty: Departmental Advice for Guidance: For Schools and Childcare Providers. London: DfE.
12.
Department for Education (DfE) (2015b) Prevent Duty Guidance: For Higher Education in England and Wales. London: DfE.
13.
DurodieB (2016) Securitising education to prevent terrorism or losing direction?British Journal of Educational Studies64(1): 21–35.
14.
European Commission (2014) Preventing Radicalisation to Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Strengthening the EU’s Response (Communication from the commission to the European parliament, the council, the European and social committee and the committee of the regions). Brussels: European Commission.
15.
FrancisBArcherLMauA (2009) Language as capital, or language as identity? Chinese complementary school pupils’ perspectives on the purposes and benefits of complementary schools. British Educational Research Journal35(4): 519–538.
16.
FurediF (2016) Prevent: the academic freedom advocate. Times Higher Education (no. 2237), 14–20January2016, 42.
GeeJP (1999) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. Abingdon: Routledge.
19.
GilbyNOrmstonRParfrementJ. (2011) Amplifying the Voice of Muslim Students: Findings from Literature Review (BIS Research Paper no. 55). London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
20.
Higher Education Funding Council for Education (HEFCE) (2015) The Prevent Duty: Monitoring Framework for Higher Education. London: HEFCE.
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) (2014) Preventing Terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism: A Community-Policing Approach. Vienna: OSCE.
25.
OslerA (2016) Citizenship education, social justice and BREXIT. Research Intelligence, 130: 11–13.
26.
PiazzoliEC (2015) Translation in cross-language qualitative research. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts1(1): 80–102.
27.
PotterJWetherellM (1987) Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behaviour. London: SAGE.
28.
RichardsonB (2016) A barrister’s perspective on Prevent. In: Proceedings of students: surveillance and academic freedom, a meeting on Prevent and Tier 4, York, 9 November 2016.
29.
SabirR (2016) Prevent: a terrorism researcher’s perspective. Times Higher Education (no. 2237), 14–20January2016, 39.
30.
SaeedTJohnsonD (2016) Intelligence, global terrorism and higher education: neutralising threats or alienating allies?British Journal of Educational Studies64: 37–51.
31.
SieckelinckSKaulingfreksFDe WinterM (2015) Neither villains nor victims: towards an educational perspective on radicalisation. British Journal of Educational Studies63(3): 329–343.
Szczepek ReedBSaidFDaviesI (2017) Heritage schools: a lens through which we may better understand citizenship and citizenship education. Citizenship Teaching and Learning Available at: https://doi.org/10.1386/ctl.12.1.67_1
35.
ThomasP (2016) Youth, terrorism and education: Britain’s Prevent programme. International Journal of Lifelong Learning35(2): 171–187.
