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Introduction As a teacher, you may have concerns about handling the sensitive issues this package stimulates. ACT NOW for schools is designed to stimulate debate around the very sensitive subject of extremism and terrorism and is aimed at young people at Key Stage 4 and above. The purpose of the exercise is to empower individuals to have the confidence to take on counter terrorism dilemmas and understand the importance of decisions made based upon the information they are given. This will afford participants the opportunity to debate choices both independently and collaboratively based on perceived facts and weigh up the consequences which follow decision making as part of a group tackling a terrorist incident.
The ACT NOW resources are designed to increase teacher confidence and knowledge around the subject of violent extremism and will act as an aid to managing the learning of pupils.
It will address sensitivities around the competing influences on young people in the 21st Century and will explore complex attitudinal issues in a safe environment.
The ACT NOW for schools project consists of four lessons exploring issues surrounding terrorism.The third lesson of the four is a table top exercise delivered by external community facilitators’ with support from the Police.This is an interactive exercise which uses the medium of experiential learning whilst providing pupils with a vehicle for dialogue and debate. The ACT NOW resource has been designed to complement some of the key concepts of the national citizenship curriculum namely;
• Global citizenship
• Conflict resolution
• Social justice
• Values and perceptions
• Human Rights
• Diversity Terrorism is an emotive subject, with many complex and contrasting ideologies. The project aims to create a historical perspective by tracing the origins of terrorism and then linking it to historical and global events, which pupils can critically analyse. This is a very exciting collaborative venture and is receiving wider interest at a National level. In 2008 the project received the Lancashire Justice Award as an example of excellent work within communities across the region.
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