Introduction

The Airways Aviation Group is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its students, management team and staff and recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is as important as safeguarding against any other vulnerability. By upholding and actively promoting the fundamental principles of modern and traditional values, including the rule of applicable region or territory law pertaining to individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs, along with those with none.

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Aims & principles:

The main aims of this policy are to ensure that:

• Staff are fully informed and engaged with respect to the risks of radicalisation and violent extremism, understanding the need to be vigilant and avoiding any sense of "it could not happen here"
• The school is committed to promoting the welfare of students and recognises the need to safeguard against radicalisation in the same way as any other vulnerability.
• The school constitutes a safe space in which students, management and staff can understand and discuss sensitive ideas and issues and learn how to challenge radical ideas.
• The Senior management team will ensure that:
  • All staff understand what radicalisation and extremism are and why we need to be vigilant.
  • All staff know what the school policy is on anti-radicalisation and extremism and follow the procedures if and when issues may arise.
  • All students know that the school has policies in place to keep students safe from harm and that the school regularly reviews its systems to ensure they are appropriate
     and effective.
  • Safer recruitment best practice principles and sound employment practice are always followed in making any appointment, be it permanent or temporary.

Definition

Extremism is defined as vocal or active opposition to fundamental human values, including the applicable territorial or regional rule of law, individual liberty, tolerance and mutual respect and understanding of different faiths and beliefs. We also include in our definition of extremism calls for the death of members of the security services, police or armed forces.

Some people are at risk of being radicalised; adopting beliefs and engaging in activities which are harmful, criminal or dangerous. Evidence suggests that the 'radicalisation' process is not linear or predictable and the length of time taken can differ greatly from a few weeks to a few years. It does not always result in violence. Adolescence is most often when a process of radicalisation starts, one that might eventually cause a student to undertake violent or criminal acts.

Young people who become involved in violent extremist movements usually do so under the influence of others. Initial contact could be via peers, older siblings, other family members or acquaintances. The process can often be a social one, where interaction is more likely to be outside school settings, often in unsupervised environments i.e. gyms, cafes, or in private homes. The Internet is now playing a much more important role and violent extremist videos and propaganda are accessible via websites or via digital social
networks.

There is no single profile of a person likely to become involved in extremism, or single indicator of when a person might be moved to adopt violence in support of extremist Ideas. However, there are several behaviours that might indicate that an individual is at risk of being radicalised or exposed to extreme views.

Any prejudice, discrimination, or extremist views, including derogatory language, displayed by students or staff will always be challenged and where appropriate dealt with in line with our 'Behaviour Policy' for students and disciplinary procedure for staff.

Indicators of vulnerability to radicalisation

Indicators of vulnerability include:

• Identity Crisis - the student is distanced from their cultural/religious heritage and experiences discomfort about their place in society
• Personal Crisis - the student may be experiencing family tensions; a sense of isolation; and low self-esteem; they may have dissociated from their existing friendship group and become involved with a new and different group of friends: they may be searching for answers to questions about identity, faith and belonging
• Personal Circumstances - migration; local community tensions; and events affecting the Student/Student's country or region of origin may contribute to a sense of grievance that is triggered by personal experience of racism or discrimination or aspects of Government policy
• Unmet Aspirations - the student may have perceptions of injustice; a feeling of failure; rejection of civic life
• Experiences of Criminality - which may include involvement with criminal groups, imprisonment, and poor resettlement/reintegration;
• Special Educational Need - students may experience difficulties with social interaction empathy with others, understanding the consequences of their actions and awareness of the motivations of others.

However, this list is not exhaustive, nor does it mean that all young people experiencing the above are at risk of radicalisation for the purposes of violent extremism. More critical risk factors could include:

• Being in contact with extremist recruiters
• Accessing violent extremist websites especially those with a social networking element
• Possessing or accessing violent extremist literature
• Using extremist narratives and a global ideology to explain personal disadvantage
• Justifying the use of violence to solve societal issues
• Joining or seeking to join extremist organisations
• Significant changes to appearance and or behaviour: and
• Experiencing a high level of social isolation resulting in issues of identity crisis and/or
  personal crisis

The Role of the Curriculum

The Airways Aviation Group promotes respect, understanding and diversity and students are encouraged to share their views and recognise that they are entitled to have their own different beliefs which should not be used to influence others.

Our teaching helps our students build resilience and give students a positive sense of identity through the development of critical thinking skills.

All of our staff are asked to familiarise themselves with the Groups policies and guidelines to recognise extremism and to develop the confidence, assertiveness and diplomacy to challenge it.

There is evidence that, as a general pattern, students with low aspirations are more vulnerable to radicalisation and therefore the Airways Aviation Group strives to instill its students with confidence, self-belief, self-respect, resilience and understanding, as well as setting high standards and expectations for themselves.

Despite the best efforts of the school, staff and visitors may express views, bring material into the school, use or direct students to extremist websites, or act in other ways to promote negative or even violent extremist views, and therefore our staff and management should remain alert and vigilant of signs, behaviour and viewpoints of others in the organisation. Their actions might constitute a breach of the relevant professional standards or may be illegal and in such an event, staff would be asked to leave the premises and the police and local authority may be contacted if the school feels such an escalation is warranted. Staff must not promote partisan political views in the teaching of any subject and in discussing political issues, students must be offered a balanced presentation of opposing vIews.

Procedures - raising concerns & taking action

It is important to establish a chronology of events, no matter how minor they might appear at the time. This history of events allows analysis of any patterns over time, which is crucial in determining if a student is seriously at risk. This also provides evidence of events when working with other agencies.

Any minor incidents should be reported to a member of senior management.

If there are concerns that there are signs that a student's behaviour or views could be an indicator of their vulnerability to radicalisation or extremism. an immediate verbal report should be made to the Head of Training which should then be followed up by a full written report.

It is important to remember that the report will form the basis for any further investigation and needs to be understood by professionals from other agencies. The words of the student should be used in the report and not an interpretation or translation of those words.

In the event of a member of stat wishing to raise concerns anonymously, this can be achieved by use of the anonymous reporting through the internal Safety Management System.

The Head of Training will take any further steps needed to ensure the immediate safety of the student, which may include the re-location of staff, calling in additional staff, or suspending staff and/or students if judged necessary by senior management.

The staff member being suspended must be told in person where possible by a member of senior management, reminded of the conditions of suspension and immediately escorted from the premises.

Steps Taken & Policy Review Process

A risk assessment should be reviewed annually and is held by the Head of Training.
All staff and students are provided adequate access to policies and procedures and students are provided a 'Student Handbook'

Staff will be properly briefed on initial appointment and encouraged to review policies as often as possible. Training and re-training is ideally conducted every 3 years.
Copies of Policies, Training Materials and Handbooks etc will be held by HR and the Head of Training.
The Policy on preventing radicalisation and extremism is accessible on the Airways Aviation website and will be reviewed and updated as required.

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