Building Resilience to Extremism through Enquiry

The teachers all talked about how engaging the project was for their pupils as they were able to relate to events they heard in the news, and how other forms of extremism – such as misogyny with social media influences like Andrew Tate – can be tackled through using enquiry.

Funded Training for London Schools using P4C to challenge racism, hatred and extreme thinking.

In an increasingly complex and interconnected world, the ability to think critically and engage in reasoned dialogue is essential. By developing philosophical enquiry and critical thinking skills from a young age, not only can this have a positive impact on learning and well-being, but it can also prepare children to navigate the challenges they will encounter in their academic, professional, and personal lives.

Please note that funding is no longer available for this academic year. We are looking for schools to take part in 2026-2027, so if you are interested contact Laura Wilkins.

This project is aimed at both primary and secondary schools in London and is designed to help them support pupils to understand extremism, hate crime and for teachers to be given the skills to have challenging conversations.

In the Summer of 2024 we were faced with violent unrest in the UK after the murder of three young girls. Far-right extremists turned up to protest with violet intent, after false information was spread through social media. Elon Musk claimed civil war was inevitable, but then something else happened. Communities of people came together to stand up against extremism. And people reached out to talk to one another.

This story in The Guardian shows how imam Adam Kelwick decided to reach out and talk to the other side.

“The reason it’s so important to talk right now is because we see what the other option is,” says Kelwick, who believes that talking to people, even in extreme circumstances, can help heal divisions.

Liverpool imam reaches out to far-riot righters outside his mosque

The Building Resilience to Extremism through Enquiry (BREE) Project was originally initiated in Greater Manchester as a response to the murder of Jo Cox (June 2016) and the attack on the Arianna Grande concert at the Manchester Arena (May 2017). A pilot course ran during the academic year 2017/18 by a partnership group of Philosophy for Children (P4C) trainers, with complementary expertise in PSHE, citizenship, global and antiracist education, and P4C lead teachers in Greater Manchester primary and secondary schools.

The programme combines the enquiry and dialogic P4C methodology with the BREE teaching and learning resource to empower primary and secondary teachers to develop their pupils’ critical thinking and understanding of extremism and terrorism in their own classrooms. London versions of some of the key activities were developed in 2019/20 to ensure relevance of the resource in London and have been funded successfully in London since then as part of the Mayor’s Shared Endeavour Fund

The project has been funded across a further 20 schools this year.

There are two key aims of the project:

• To transform the capacity of teachers and schools to prevent and counter intolerance, hate, extremism and radicalisation in their school communities.
• To develop pupils’ understanding and critical thinking in relation to racism, extremism and terrorism enabling them to counter them in the classroom, and in their lives.

Co-Director Emma Swinn MBE attended a celebration for last year’s project at Manorfield Primary School where primary and secondary schools from across London came together to share their experiences and further resources that had been developed within the project.

“Two year 6 pupils from Manorfield shared what they thought they had developed from the project, how it had challenged their ideas of extremism and given them a greater understanding of different perspectives.

The teachers all talked about how engaging the project was for their pupils as they were able to relate to events they heard in the news, and how other forms of extremism – such as misogyny with social media influences like Andrew Tate – can be tackled through using enquiry.”

This training and project is suitable for those who have already completed a SAPERE Level 1 as well as those who are new to SAPERE P4C.

This course is specifically aimed at teachers and pupils in years 5 to 9, including SEND and alternative provision schools and comes with resources that have been specifically developed for tackling these difficult issues through enquiry-based learning.

We recommend that two teachers from each school take part in the project to enable collaborative working.

P4C develops behaviours and skills that make young people less susceptible to extremist persuasion. The P4C community of enquiry provides a safer space where pupils can air, examine and challenge one another’s views, as well as extremist views that the activities present.

This experience helps young people think critically and independently. It provides crucial “rehearsal time” for them to challenge hateful and extremist views that they may be exposed to in the classroom, and outside school.

The resources offer challenging, well-researched material and activities around three interlocking themes of identity, understanding terrorism, and extremism, and gives students the critical thinking and collaborative thinking needed to stand up to hate, intolerance and extremism.

“The project gave us access to expert teaching resources, providing staff with the reassurance that the materials they were delivering had been researched and trialled beforehand. The resources were outstanding: balanced, well thought out and age-appropriate. They gave teachers the confidence to explicitly tackle and discuss issues relating to extremism and showed them a sensitive teaching sequence that we will embed into our curriculum for years to come”.

Funding gives you this training for free!

It has been selected for the sixth year running by the Mayor’s Shared Endeavour Fund, which supports schools in preventing intolerance, hate and extremism.

Programme highlights

• Two‑day training at Manorfield Primary School (Tower Hamlets) – available dates below.

• Evidence‑based resources on identity, terrorism and extremism

• 1:1 in‑school support session with one of our trainers

• Two online twilight development sessions (Dec & Feb)

• Final evaluation event on 25 March

• PLUS £150 per teacher towards supply cover (on completion)

Who is it for?

• Teachers of Years 5–9, including SEND and alternative provision

• Suitable for those new to P4C as well as those who have experienced SAPERE training

• We recommend a minimum of two teachers per school for maximum impact

NB this funding is now over, but we are applying again for 2026-2027. If you would like to be involved, get in touch with Laura Wilkins.