Safe Space, Dangerous Territory: Young People’s Views on Preventing Radicalization through Education—Perspectives for Pre-Service Teacher Education

Abstract

Initiatives for preventing radicalization and violent extremism through education (PVE-E) have become a feature of global educational policy and educational institutions across all phases, from early childhood to universities, also in Finland. If schools may be regarded as safe spaces here for identity and worldview construction and experiences of belonging, the specific subject matter of PVE-E is also dangerous territory. Not least because of PVE-E’s focus on radicalization, but above all because of perceptions of schools being used as an adjunct of governmental counter-terrorism policy. We argue that understanding young people’s views on issues related to radicalization and violent extremism is critical in order to develop ethical, sustainable, contextualized, and pedagogical approaches to prevent hostilities and foster peaceful co-existence. After providing some critical framing of the Finnish educational context in a broader international setting, we thus examine young people’s views (n = 3617) in relation to the safe spaces through online survey data gathered as a part of our larger 4-year research project Growing up radical? The role of educational institutions in guiding young people’s worldview construction. Specifically focused on Finland but with potentially wider international implications, more understanding about the topic of PVE-E is needed to inform teacher education and training, to which our empirical data makes some innovative contribution.

Threshold of Adversity: Resilience and the Prevention of Extremism Through Education

“…For successful prevention work, however, it is necessary for educators to undergo thorough self-reflection too and to become aware of their own values, worldviews and attitudes that act as filters and lenses for how they interpret the phenomena related to diversities within society and the student body (Feucht, Lunn-Brownlee & Schraw, 2017;Benjamin et al, 2021). Otherwise, these implicit biases can lead to errors in perception and interpretation of their students' actions and utterances (De Souza, 2016;Feucht, Lunn-Brownlee & Schraw, 2017).…”

“…In the Nordic countries, the complementary role of societal education is key in mediating the divergent resources between children and youth throughout their educational trajectories, especially for the most vulnerable individuals (Benjamin, Koirikivi & Kuusisto, 2020;Blossing, Imsen & Moos, 2014). Educational inclusivity, institutional support and positive relationships have also been highlighted in recent studies on PVE-E as important protective factors (Sjøen & Jore, 2019), also when studied from the students' own perspectives (Benjamin et al, 2020(Benjamin et al, , 2021.…”

“…Metacognitive practice helps them understand the way this impacts their own beliefs, emotions and behaviors, and those of others. Metacognitive skills, along with educational inclusivity and support (Benjamin et al, 2020(Benjamin et al, , 2021Sjøen & Jore, 2019), are relevant in PVE-E, as they increase the individual's resilience -the capacity to cope with challenges and difficulty in a more flexible way lessening the risk of tipping over the threshold (Greene, 2009).…”

Addressing social polarization through critical thinking: Theoretical application in the “Living Well With Difference” course in secondary schools in England

“…Another PVE-E review carried out by Finnish researchers (Benjamin, Salonen, Gearon, Koirikivi, & Kuusisto, 2021) shows that teachers often report feeling ill-prepared to manage difficult conversations without entering into dangerous territory where emotions run high and reactance is provoked. LWWD and other IC courses are distinctive given the entire course design aims to moderate reactance and perceived threat, operationalised through the ICS framework and A, B, C, D stages.…”

“…The two reviews above consider one-off interventions inadequate (Benjamin et al, 2021;Davies, 2017a). Both argue for programmes that are embedded in a whole school policy including students, teachers, family, community, and for which there are practical and visible outcomes such as civic engagement.…”