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Hello John, More and more young people are using far right phrases in the classroom. I know it's a big problem from the time I spend in classrooms and in talking to teachers (which I do a lot running HOPE not hate Charitable Trust's Education & Training unit.) It's a difficult topic, and it's a complex problem, so I hope you don't mind me writing a long email. At the end, I have some ideas for how you can help be part of tackling the problem. Here's the problem: We live in a time of the greatest ever ease of access to extreme material. No longer does a teenager have to pluck up the courage to head to a far-right meeting in the back of some seedy pub -- far-right content is available in their pocket via their phone. And I am not just talking about actively seeking out this content, like Googling for books that promote terrorist activities - the algorithms on social media sites can lead a pupil from researching homework on WW2 to a bogus video about Holocaust denial to antisemitism to extremist material that points them at dangerous channels on Telegram. The hate-filled graphics and memes are well-made and alluring to people at risk of radicalisation. Young people see more of this vile content, and increasingly, some are drawn in. We need to counter this classroom radicalisation: Unfortunately the training that the majority of teachers receive in this area of safeguarding is very out of date. We are now at a stage where a pupil could be radicalising their friends in a classroom without the teacher even being aware. Much of this challenge is down to the fact that terminology radicalised young people are using is too alien for teachers to pick up. I have seen this myself when teaching in schools, and I hear it from the teachers we work with all the time. HOPE not hate has the best insight into the UK far-right. We understand them better than any other organisation, so we decided to put that expertise into the hands of teachers. We want to give those on the frontline in the education sector access to our knowledge, so that they are best equipped to deal with this challenge if it raises its head in their school. That's why we're publishing 'Signs of Hate'. It's a manual for teachers chronicling the far right language and codes they need to look out for in the classroom. A copy of this book is being sent to every single secondary school in England and Wales this week. We are doing this free of charge because school budgets are already stretched thin. Here's how you can help. While we can afford to send the book to every school, we'd love to offer a follow up training session for teachers in those schools. We have trained people who can deliver these trainings, but they still cost money to deliver, and we don't want to charge schools a penny. If 50 people become a member of the HOPE Education Fund, we will be able to train teachers at two additional schools every single month. You can help us give teachers the tools they need to counter the spread of the far right, and protect fellow pupils from hearing the vile words the far right are pushing. Become a member with a few clicks here. I know this is a difficult topic, and I know this was a long email. Thank you for reading to the end, and thank you for being part of our work for HOPE. Owen Owen Jones |
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