Our Expert Views

Our Expert Views

Rich, readable blogs from our experts who work among the community, in academia and research on new developments in Prevent and their real impact on people.

People's Review of Prevent

The People's Review of Prevent

The People’s Review of Prevent is an alternative review to the Government Shawcross Review.

This review provides a voice to the people most impacted by the Prevent Duty.

Prevent is described as ‘safeguarding’ children from harms. However, under Prevent, safeguarding is focused on protecting the wider public from children believed to be ‘risky’, rather than protecting children from harms.

Throughout our report we present case studies that show how real these harms can be and the distress they cause to children and their families and carers.

Why we need to speak about reparations for Prevent in 2025

While much discussion has centred on the UN call to suspend Prevent, little has been said about reparations – this year, it’s time to put the subject on the table. As we enter a new year with a new government and new proposals to be...

Lies, Damned Lies and Prevent Statistics

Jump to… Each year, the Home Office presents its Prevent statistics as part of its commitment to transparency. Here we outline THREE reasons why we must not rely upon them as a credible reference point. For every researcher, NGO and...

We are in Geneva: Summary of Prevent Watch submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Here are the main points of our request to the UN's Commission to End Racial Discrimination and our call to the UN to urge the UK government to withdraw Prevent from education and health...

‘Captain of her soul’: Michaela School pupil’s courage should be commended

Despite seeming to ‘lose’ the case against Michaela School, pupil TTT showed courage; she was certainly the 'captain of her soul' that the poetry decorating the school's halls celebrate - not the ‘ruffian on the stairs’ depicted by the...

Michaela School: Teachers ‘curate’ break time talk and are ‘never wrong’

A glimpse inside the Michaela School reveals a startling environment where the spiritual welfare of children is not considered to be part of educating the whole child, as required by education policy, writes Prof. John Holmwood...

Prevent Watch supports call to scrap Prevent at the United Nations

Prevent Watch was at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, in support of Rights and Security International’s (RSI) submission to the Human Rights Committee about Prevent - here's what we learnt...

A sly move to sanction groups: What the ‘new definition of extremism’ means

Is the UK going to define and ban proscribed groups? Here's what distinguishes the latest definition of extremism...

Prevent is political: No ‘new definition of extremism’, only a war on ideas

The current media flurry around a ‘new definition of extremism’ is misplaced; there is not, in fact, a new definition, but the political manifestation of a recommendation about the implementation of Prevent by Shawcross...

Centering Prevent as a governance mechanism: Behind Rishi Sunak’s ‘mob rule’ extremism claims

Rishi Sunak’s call to ‘double-down’ on Prevent has generated a lot of media headlines about ‘new’ definitions of extremism, but it's important to know that there are no new definitions offered at all...

Challenging the Prevent duty in securitised schools

Our recent webinar explored the Prevent duty in securitised schools, the recent aspects that further strengthen Prevent and what Prevent Watch can do to challenge referrals.  By Mariam A Schools in the UK have increasingly become sites of...

Why the Channel programme linked to the Prevent strategy is the junk food of public safety

In 2005, when Jamie Oliver exposed what really went into chicken nuggets on his School Dinners series, parents were horrified. What they thought was a proper hot meal turned out to be processed scraps, stripped of nutrition and bulked out...