Building Resilience to Extremism through Enquiry

History of the project

The Building Resilience to Extremism through Enquiry (BREE) Project was originally initiated by P4C trainer Richard Gore 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 now

Over the last year, we have developed the project, brought it in line with our training pathway, and produced more resources for teachers. In the sixth round of funding Thoughtful successfully recruited 28 schools to take part in this programme. The project is currently being evaluated, but feedback has been extremely positive, and we are applying for the seventh round of funding at present.

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.

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 project also gives teachers the confidence to be able to open up challenging conversations in the classroom.

What next?

The Challenging Extremism, Thoughtfully Project

We are currently applying for the seventh round of funding from the Mayor’s Shared Endeavour fund and are looking to work with up to 30 schools / 60 teachers across London. We are renaming the course, but the aims and objectives remain and the course continues to be developed with feedback from participants.

Find our more below.