The government’s plan for teachers to monitor their pupils for signs of extremism stifles debate and encourages secrecy

Francis Gilbert  | Of all the roles I thought I might play as a classroom teacher, it never occurred to me that I might be called upon to be a spook. Social worker, surrogate parent, cleaner, technician, crowd controller, salesman for the damaged goods of the national curriculum, yes – but I never imagined I might be required to be a quasi-MI6 agent, snooping around the playground for budding terrorists. Yet this is what the government is calling for state school teachers like me to be; government guidance published today will ask teachers to monitor pupils’ behaviour and inform the authorities – including police – if they suspect teenagers are being drawn into violent extremism.

As with much of the guidance that the government provides teachers, it is highly contradictory. On the one hand, it encourages teachers to discuss the issues surrounding terrorism – the threat from extreme Islamist groups, al-Qaida, and other fanatics hellbent upon blowing up innocent citizens – which seems reasonable enough. But on the other, the plan aims to extend the “in loco parentis” responsibilities of teachers to monitoring whether pupils are becoming extremists and telling the authorities.

This begs a couple of questions. Surely, if pupils know that teachers are obliged to report them if they articulate their extreme views, then they’ll be very cautious about saying anything that might incriminate themselves? Furthermore, won’t it inhibit any discussion from those pupils – or teachers for that matter – who are not extremists but have some sympathy for “freedom fighters” who advocate violence – such as Nelson Mandela?
I am currently teaching Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, which is about an African man’s violent and ultimately suicidal response to British colonial rule in Nigeria in the 19th century, and fielding all sorts of left-of-field comments from my sixth formers, some of whom are suggesting that the African is right to take up arms against his oppressors, even though it’s clear he’s on a suicide mission. Should I be reporting these impassioned, engaged students as potential fodder for al-Qaida? If the pupils knew I might, all sensible discussion about the novel would cease.

Perhaps even more pertinently, I have taught pupils after 9/11, and during the Iraq war, who have expressed sympathies for both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. On both occasions, this has provoked a furious response from the rest of the class and a lively, impassioned debate has ensued; the sort of debate about religious fundamentalism, freedom of speech and changing the world that the Secretary for the Department of Children, Families and Schools, Ed Balls, wants lots of teachers to conduct throughout the country. However, I am pretty sure that they wouldn’t have happened if the pupils who provoked the discussions with their defence of al-Qaida and the former Iraqi dictator knew that I would have to report them to the authorities. Interestingly, in both cases, these pupils were clearly not budding terrorists, but what I would call clever “wind-up” merchants who relished putting everyone’s backs up.

However, I have come across some characters at school that I have suspected of being serious fanatics. Funnily enough, they weren’t pupils but teachers! These pedagogues were not the sort of bombastic, careless blusterers who trigger great classroom discussions but quiet, devout teachers who were obviously very religious, praying every day and wearing the appropriate garb. While I might have suspected them of harbouring dreams of violence, I had absolutely no evidence of it, beyond their belief that homosexuals should be executed. They certainly were very careful not to talk about Bin Laden or al-Qaida. I had a gay colleague who was so incensed when she questioned one of these teachers about their attitudes towards homosexuality that she did complain to the authorities. She was quickly silenced with the response that it was a religious matter – and no action was taken. Indeed, that fundamentalist teacher went on to pass his trainee year and now is teaching at a state school as a fully qualified teacher.

This has made me think that perhaps teachers need to be properly vetted before we turn our attention to the pupils. After all, one of the 7/7 bombers was a primary school assistant; it is possible, he could well have been rooted out if properly questioned about his attitude towards violence in a job interview. Perhaps he would not have blurted out that he wanted to be a suicide bomber, but his attitudes towards homosexuality could have been fairly easily discovered. Personally, I think that anyone who believes that gay people should be exterminated should not be allowed to teach our children. The government, though, seems to reluctant to deal with this thorny issue and instead wants to turn teachers into ineffectual spooks, which will have the effect of stifling all meaningful debate.

10 Responses to “Spooks in the classroom”

1. gerardo Posted: Oct 9th, 2008 at 6:04 pm

   I’ve been searching for 5 years on what really happened in 9/11/2001 and I have got to the conclusion that the USA government was the perpetrator of that crime…… check this link below….. SPAM REMOVED BY ADMIN The guys of this website above know that airplanes were NOT involved in those murders, but they don’t want to say it. Google these……”911 coincidences” “september clues” “911 taboo” ps: There are dozens of websites and videos pointing that the government commited the murders on september 11, 2001. If anyone is interested I could post more links in this website. Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

2. Mick Meaney Posted: Oct 10th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

   I’ve removed your misinformation spam links. Please keep things on topic. Cheers. Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

3. gerardo Posted: Oct 20th, 2008 at 9:09 pm

   stupid, what misinformation?, have you analized the videos shown by the mainstream media?, you are like almost all the “truthers”, they don’t want to addmit that there were NOT airplanes involved in the murders on 9/11/2001 Look carefully that in the videos they show the airplanes (flight 175)coming from DIFFERENT directions. Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

4. Mick Meaney Posted: Oct 20th, 2008 at 11:24 pm

   Don’t make me laugh. There is a site wide ban on you 9/11 denier toss pots for spreading your bullshit. Your theories have been debunked time and time again. Game over, you lost. Now go crawl back under your rock. That’s a friendly warning, next time time it’s a ban. Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

5. Maximus V Posted: Oct 21st, 2008 at 11:36 am

   Gerardo, the films you saw were faked up by viewer hungry news stations on the day of 911, but that is not to say jets did not hit the WTC. I too denounce the official 911 government lies, but to claim there were no plains because some of the videos were fake is simply not valid. In relation to teachers having a roll of a spook, they already are to some degree. I advise everybody to question ALL authority and the motives of All authority and to trust none of them EVER! When I was at school the teachers were Femanazi slimeballs who were peddling their Femanazi left wing adgender. Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

6. gerardo Posted: Oct 23rd, 2008 at 1:54 am

   You just MADE me laugh HA HA! you are afraid that people is INFORMED and finds the EVIDENCE…… Now go crawl back under your rock….Ha Ha!! Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

7. Mick Meaney Posted: Oct 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 am

   OK then, I think I’ve heard enough from you no-plane spammer, before you take to rocking back & forth in the fetal position and start spitting / foaming at the mouth I think it’s best you take a deep breath, count backwards from 10 and tell yourself everything is ok, it’s just the Internet, it doesn’t mean anything, you’re still safe. There’s plenty of sites out there that will accept your spam, this is not one of them. Bye now. Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

8. Maximus V Posted: Oct 23rd, 2008 at 11:25 am

   Gerado probably means well, but has not understood that just because there are “FAKE” films out there which were shown on TV as real, does not mean that jets or large flying objects did not crash on 911. If teachers & parents did a better job of showing the kids that things are not always what they seem, I suspect we would have fewer “Truthers” suddenly waking up and realising their government are a “Complete Criminal fraud” - then grasping the first bit of “Straw Man” evidence to prove so. YES Gerado - the UK AND US Governments are CRIMINALS - but to peddle the “No Plains theory” is clearly divisive and only serves their divisive adgender. - - - What if I were to peddle the “NO Tower’s” theory - “the towers were just holograms” - does that explain how divisive the “NO Plains” theory is? Even if the “No Plains” or “NO Tower” hypothesis were entirely true - it serves no rallying purpose at a time when we all need to UNITE to defend liberty and freedom from the BUSH Fascists and their Allies. Wake up and smell the coffee Gerado! Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

9. Mick Meaney Posted: Oct 23rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm

   Being well meaning and all is a nice idea but when you’re trying to convert people to your ideology it’s usually not a good idea to start acting like an unstoppable spamming moron on your first set of posts on a web site. Take a look at UK truther groups like the no planers, the antisemites, wac and the new age groups; they have buried themselves and completely destroyed any hope of their message being taken seriously by behaving more like religious fanatics than level headed political activists. I’m still unsure if it’s outright stupidity or something more organised to infiltrate & discredit a wider more credible movement. Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this

10. Maximus V Posted: Oct 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    I suspect it is a bit of both, some deliberate misinformation and some innocent stupidity and some just well meaning spam. - - - Hypothesis is being confused with Theory by people who are ill skilled or qualified to be doing the scientific analysis of the 911 evidence - its like every man and his dog doing scientific research - sure Gems do get discovered that way and I am happy people take a keen interest, but also many accidents are inevitable - even by us so called professionals - yes we all make some errors, but these are prevented from becoming mistakes by corrections. - – Unfortunately human nature is such we often do not like to admit our errors. - - - Also, its no good being right of you can’t translate that into real political capital and decisive real political progress. - - - We are now at the stage for action not discussion if the jets were holograms! - - - And it was not even the topic of the link! - - - Science Teachers need to be more highly valued, as their services appear to be badly needed world wide!- - - - My message would be, cut down on the classroom spying and promote the teaching of Science, particularly - Physics! Reply | Quote selected text | Link to this