Teaching and Learning > DISCOURSE
A Study of Pupil Understandings of 'Terrorism' in Pupil Conversations (aged 16-18) and Questionnaires from a Sample of Warwickshire Secondary Schools
Author: Angela Quartermaine
Journal Title: Discourse
ISSN: 2040-3674
ISSN-L: 1741-4164
Volume: 10
Number: 1
Start page: 101
End page: 130
Return to vol. 10 no. 1 index page
Abstract
This article aims to investigate pupils' views of 'terrorism', to better understand how they define the phenomenon and to gauge their views on whether it should be taught in school settings, in particular within Religious Education (RE) lessons. A survey of 205 pupils from 7 Warwickshire schools was conducted alongside 10 semi-structured group discussions. The results showed that the pupils wanted to know more about terrorism, which they defined as an act of violence (either physical or mental) against civilians, motivated by religion and/or politics. They considered RE to be an important subject for such discussions, but were wary about how such a topic could be broached within the school environment. Through a careful examination of their ideas, this article concludes that the topic could be incorporated in the RE curriculum, only if further research, additional training and classroom materials were made available, because it is such a sensitive topic that it could increase racist attacks rather than encourage community cohesion.
Introduction
Since the 11th September 2001 (9/11) and 7th July 2005 (7/7) attacks, terrorism has become an increasing concern in international and national crime prevention strategies. Alongside the UK's involvement in ongoing conflicts, counter-terrorism concerns also led to a government document called CONTEST (HM Government 2009b), which covers a wide-range of strategies, namely to Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare against terrorist attacks. The Prevent Strategy is particularly interesting because it states that: 'schools can play an important role in helping young people to become more resilient to the messages of violent extremists' (HM Government 2008:47), which suggests that education can have a role to play in the government's counter-terrorism policy. However, there has been a change in government since these documents were released, so this paper has been restricted to documents published before May 2010.
Due to the role education has in the UK counter-terrorism policy, I decided to research pupil views on the matter, to see if they thought terrorism was a topic they would like to discuss in schools. Although the Prevent Strategy uses the terms 'violent extremism' and 'terrorism' interchangeably, my literature review demonstrated that there are differences between the concepts. Therefore, I felt it necessary to restrict the focus of my research and chose terrorism due to my previous research and personal interest in the topic. I further restricted the scope of the research by focusing on the links pupils made between terrorism and religion because of my interest in how this topic could affect secondary school Religious Education.
The primary research question was: how do Warwickshire pupils define 'terrorism'? The subsidiary questions included: What actions and motives for such actions do they associate with 'terrorist' behaviour? Do they want to learn about the topic of 'terrorism'? Do they think it is an appropriate topic for the school curriculum? If so, in which school subjects do they think 'terrorism' could be discussed? Do they think that RE can play a role in the introduction of this topic? To answer these questions, I asked pupils (aged 16-18 years old) to define and explain their understanding of terrorism, using a mixed methods approach of questionnaires and discussion groups. The sensitive nature of the topic and my theoretical position affected my methodological choices and my analysis of the data, particularly the validity and generalisability of results. Therefore I restricted my research to the Warwickshire area to ensure that there could be a degree of generalisability. The nature of the Prevent Strategy also justified the focus on this geographical area; the document is intended as a guide for local councils and each area has a different amount of Prevent funding and can interpret the Strategy according to their needs.
This paper begins with an examination of the literature, specifically how terrorism is defined on an international and national level, as well as the role education has in current UK counter-terrorism policies. This is followed by an overview of the methods and a brief examination of the results, focusing particularly on the links the pupils made between religion and terrorism. For my analysis, I compared the survey results with the group discussions, which then guided my concluding comments on the pupils' understanding of terrorism and the role that RE could play. I have also provided some preliminary suggestions for further research and conclude that RE could be an appropriate subject for teaching about the topic of terrorism in schools, if proper training (from teacher training courses) and classroom materials are made available, because it is such a sensitive and complex topic.
Literature review
1. Historical overview
The phenomenon of terrorism has a complex history; 'as the meaning and usage of the word have changed over time to accommodate the political vernacular and discourse of each successive era, terrorism has proved increasingly elusive in the face of attempts to construct one consistent definition' (Hoffman 2006:20). Current definitions are based on a post-1980s 'fourth wave' of terrorism (Rapoport 2004), where religion, particularly 'radical Islam', is 'the most important defining characteristic' (Schmid 1988:82). Religious terrorists see their struggle as good against evil, therefore they dehumanise their victims and consider non-members infidels (Cronin 2003:41). However, some scholars doubt whether this 'new terrorism' really exists, because it is difficult to know someone's true motivation and religious forms of terrorism are not new (for example, the Zealots). The phenomenon may have merely evolved as a result of better technologies, such as better weapons, rather than altered in the modern era.
2. Definitions
There is no universal definition of terrorism, but I think that when the term 'terrorism' is used, it is meant pejoratively to demonstrate one's interpretation of violent acts that have affected a civilian population (Jenkins 1980:10). There are many motivations, actions and actors (both state and non-state) that have been used to support one's view of terrorism, but all of these ideas only serve to highlight any underlying power struggles that the author (and wider society) have attributed to the use of the term (Hoffman 2006:2).
(a) Schmid's four arenas of terrorism definitions
(i) The academic arena
The academic discourse on definitions of 'terrorism' is extensive, with some scholars simply stating that a comprehensive definition is impos- sible because terrorism has appeared in many different forms (Laqueur 1977:5). However, Schmid's study involved gathering definitions from academics in the field and resulted in terrorism being defined as 'an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action…for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons…The immediate human victims of violence are generally chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target population, and serve as message generators' (Schmid 1992:8). Another study conducted by Weinburg et. al. (2004:783) used Schmid's categories to guide an investigation into the definitions of terrorism used in journal articles. They found that terrorism was given the following attributes: violence, politics, fear, threat, psychological effects, victim-target, organised activity, method of combat, extranormal behaviour (breaching accepted rules), coercion, publicity, indiscriminate, civilians, intimidation, innocence of victims, symbolic act, unpredictable, covert and criminal (Weinburg et. al. 2004:781). These ideas helped guide the pupil questionnaire design.
(ii) The international and state arena
International and government agencies have different agendas when using the word terrorism, as they tend to focus on security issues and legal matters. In the UK, there are two definitions of terrorism: the Terrorism Act 2000 states that terrorism is when 'the use or threat [of violence] is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause'. (Terrorism Act 2000, section 1, part 1,c), but the Reinsurance (Acts of Terrorism) Act 1993 section 2(2) does not include 'religion' in its definition (Carlile 2007:7).
Carlile's report on terrorism has influenced the government's counter-terrorism strategy and he preferred the Terrorism Act 2000 (Carlile 2007:24). He saw religious motivations as important, with the most dangerous ideology being 'violent and lethal jihad' (Carlile 2007:24), which highlights Islamic forms of terrorism above others (no detailed explanation is given for this bias). This legal definition has its advantages: it details the actions and motives that could be categorised as terrorism under British law. However, it excludes certain things, such as how the motives for terrorism may change over time.
(iii) Public debates and the media
The media (via television reports, newspapers or online news) is an important medium by which the general public hears about attacks—thus pupils are likely to have gained their knowledge about terrorism from this arena. Some scholars argue that it is exploited by terrorists to get their cause into the public sphere (Hoffman 1998:142), whilst others think that the portrayal of terrorism (and violence) in the media has a negative psychological effect on the readership (Slone 2000:508). Therefore, I had to be aware that some pupils may demonstrate an exaggerated fear of terrorism and was sympathetic to these concerns.
Due to the volume of news reports available, it is difficult to know why certain topics are reported, whilst others are not. Schmid (1992) attempted such a study and found that the actions most associated with terrorism included hostage taking, assassinations, indiscriminate bombings, kidnappings and hijackings (Schmid 1992:9).
However, motivations should not be ignored and over the past year I have found that a meta-narrative appears to exist within the British media: cases of terrorism associated with Islam are discussed more frequently than any other form of terrorism. Although a more extensive study needs to be conducted, this brief examination highlighted how certain motivations (and actions) associated with terrorism caught the media's attention (see Hoover 1998).
(iv) Those who support or perform acts of violence and terrorism
According to Richardson 'terrorists don't like to be called terrorists' (Richardson 2006:19), but those who have labelled them as such do not consider them 'a freedom fighter…[or] a guerilla [either]. A terrorist is a terrorist, no matter whether or not you like the goal s/he is trying to achieve, no matter whether or not you like the government s/he is trying to change.' (Richardson 2006:28). Therefore, perhaps there is something about the term that makes acknowledging the terrorist perspective morally questionable.
There are some scholars who have tried to engage with 'terrorists' and one study led the scholar to conclude that 'having the 'terrorist' as the central actor and subject of terrorism research does not offer much if any explanatory value; on the contrary, it…obfuscates rather than clarifies' (Toros 2008:289-290). This study demonstrated the difficulties facing scholars in the field and further illustrates the difficulties with using the term to describe certain groups.
3. Religion and terrorism
According to Hoffman, religiously-associated terrorism is a distinctive form of terrorism because the violence not only has a moral justification, but it can legitimise the terrorist's cause (Hoffman 1993:2-3). 'As unpredictable and illogical as this violence may seem to outsiders, it falls within a pattern of asceticism leading to the ecstasy of self-sacrifice' (Applyby 1999:91). The concept of self-sacrifice (whether one calls it suicide attacks or martyrdom) is an important aspect of religiously- inspired terrorism, because it is this that gains the most publicity in media. Therefore, it is likely that the pupils will know about this action and associate it with the phenomenon.
Some writers argue that religion is merely an identity label for terrorists; they are actually motivated by political grievances, not religion (Dawkins 2006). Although this view is influential in some circles, I would argue that the very nature of religion being an allencompassing lifestyle choice means that there must be a degree of religious-inspired motivation for certain groups. 'To interpret acts of violence and terrorism committed in the name of religion as necessarily motivated by other concerns and lacking in religious qualities is an error... [it] misunderstands religion and underestimates its ability to underwrite deadly conflict on its own terms' (Appleby 1999:30). Therefore, to understand this type of terrorism, you need to appreciate the importance of religion to those individuals concerned.
(a) UK Government view: the Prevent Strategy
The Prevent Strategy focuses on Islam and states that there needs to be a better understanding of 'Islam and Islamic culture, society and history across all communities' (HM Government 2008:18), which could be achieved through education. However, this focus on Islam is problematic because both outsiders and insiders to the Islamic faith are told that they need to combat dangerous 'myths and half-truths' (HM Government 2008:18). No examples of these half-truths are given, which makes it difficult to know which teachings in Islam need 'cor- recting'. In my opinion, stating that one's community needs to be taught about an archetypal form of 'Islam', that is deemed 'right' by a government dominated by non-Muslims could be interpreted as patronizing, or even insulting. In religious studies, the phenomenon of 'Islam' is often seen as a contested category, with no single definition or definable group; thus to present this 'world religion' as having one correct interpretation of the 'truth' is too reductionist (Martin 2001). An-Nisa condemned the Strategy, stating that 'the most glaring concerns of the Prevent Strategy are the targeting of the whole Muslim community as potential terrorists, the fusion of counter-terrorism with community cohesion and community development initiatives and the mainstreaming of Prevent in the core services of local councils' (Khan 2009:4). Kundnani agrees, arguing that the focus on Islamic groups could be considered racist, which hinders community cohesion (Kundnani 2009:6-7). However, this latter point has now been recognised by the government: 'Muslim communities have felt unfairly targeted and branded as potential terrorists. The Strategy has contributed to a sense of frustration and alienation amongst Muslims… Prevent's focus on Muslim communities has not, therefore, been constructive' (HM Government 2010:11), therefore there may be some policy changes in the future.
4.The role of secondary school education
(a) The UK government strategy
With respect to the British education system, the Prevent Strategy wants schools, universities and other education bodies to take an active role in dealing with 'terrorist' and 'extremist' behaviour. Schools in particular 'can play an important role in helping young people to become more resilient to the messages of violent extremists... through creating an environment where all young people learn to understand others, value and appreciate diversity and develop skills to debate and analyse' (HM Government 2008:47). However, the Communities and Local Government Committee report states that 'there is clearly a disjuncture between the stated national aims of the Prevent educational activity and the reality of much of its content…it is not Prevent activity in any meaningful sense' (HM Government 2010:59). The Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has provided advice for schools, suggesting that 'schools should actively challenge such beliefs in a constructive but unequivocal way' (DfES 2008:2-3), because schools are a safe environment for pupils to discuss terrorism in (DCSF 2008:4). Pupils should not be sheltered from knowing about terrorism, but rather provided with 'constructive avenues' (DfES 2008:6) to 'explore their feelings, fears, curiosity and concerns' (DfES 2008:6). However, it is questionable how one can discuss terrorism openly when the beliefs of terrorists must be challenged 'unequivocally'; pupils will not be able to explore the topic in depth if a bias towards government views is given preferential treatment.
I have had difficulty finding what school pupils think about the implementation of such programmes and although a survey was carried out by the UK Youth Parliament, which found that young people did want to know about terrorism (see the Youth Parliament website), more information is needed so that RE advisors and teacher training institutes can write clear curriculum materials that present the data in an appropriate manner to pupils.
(b) The local strategy
The Prevent Strategy is intended to act as a guide for local authorities (HM Government 2008), and according to Warwickshire's Prevent Coordinator, the risk of terrorism is low in comparison to other areas such as Birmingham or Manchester, so the funding here is significantly less. The police have tried to engage young people and teachers through the Warwickshire Learning Platform website (which has restricted access) and through a range of organised events, including Natural Born Leaders (an event for vulnerable young people), Communities against Terrorism (where pupils discuss how to respond to a terrorist threat) and Tapestry (a drama group that engages with young people through an interactive play). However, getting teachers involved has been difficult, with some not engaging with either resource, therefore I predict that my research may reflect some apathy from the teachers and consequently a lack of awareness about terrorism from the Warwickshire pupils.
(c) Religious Education
With these recommendations already impacting on schools, it is important to know when and how teachers are expected to discuss such difficult topics. There have already been some endeavours to incorporate terrorism studies into Citizenship (QCA 2007:29), PHSE and RE (REsiliance programme, see Religious Education Council of England and Wales website), but other subjects such as geography, history and sociology could include it (this requires further investigation). The Toledo report states that 'there is a religious aspect to many of the problems that contemporary society faces, such as intolerant fundamentalist movements and terrorist acts' (The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights 2007:87). Therefore, it is logical for RE to be incorporated into Prevent strategies because RE focuses on the religious aspects of life.
In my opinion, RE teachers cannot be expected to teach such a difficult and emotive subject without very clear, factual advice about terrorism. This topic has the potential to have a serious and negative impact on pupils if it is not taught correctly, therefore, this study is important because it gives an insight into pupil opinions, which could guide further research and help training institutes and teachers make an informed decision about appropriate materials for RE classrooms. Teacher training courses in the UK could help in these endeavours by providing teachers with the tools to engage with such a difficult topic.
Methods
The methods I have chosen to generate data for my research are questionnaires and semi-structured group discussions. The pupils were aged 16-18 years old, studying A-levels in a random sample of Warwickshire schools. It was impossible to get a completely randomised selection of schools due to gate-keepers restricting access, thus the sample was one of convenience. I aimed to gather data from approximately 200 pupils and achieved a population size of 205 pupils from seven schools.
(a) Ethical considerations
Ethical concerns were important because focusing on the links between 'religion' and 'terrorism' could lead pupils to discuss one religion above another, which could result in racist comments or attacks. I therefore decided to reduce any problems by taking a covert approach and did not discuss the purpose of my research prior to conducting the survey. However, the teachers were made aware of the research aims beforehand and, once the survey and discussion group were completed, I discussed the research in more detail with the pupils. All results were fed-back to the schools before publication.
Other ethical considerations included: (i) How research can affect and be affected by Government Policy; (ii) the nature of conducting research with children (e.g. informed consent, confidentiality etc.); (iii) how the data was collected (i.e. survey design and semi-structured discussion groups); and (iv) how the data will be disseminated. However, these concerns are beyond the scope of this paper.
(b) Theoretical assumptions
There are three main theoretical positions that have influenced my research methods: interpretivism, (liberal) feminism and postmodernism. My religious studies training has influenced these theoretical choices, particularly the phenomenological tradition (associated with the interpretivist tradition). I attempted to use epoché, which means I aimed to 'bracket out' my own beliefs when collecting and analysing the data. Aiming for epoché was considered the most appropriate approach for a project that involves mixed methods: the data are meant to complement each other, so it would be illogical to use one approach with one data set and a completely different approach with another. Having a single theoretical approach allowed for a universal interpretation of the data.
(c) Design of the survey and discussion groups
The theoretical standpoints and ethical considerations contributed to the decision to use a mixed methods approach. The primary research question aimed to discover an attitude or opinion, which can be best discovered through the use of a survey (Wiersma 1995:5). The survey is also a good practical tool, since it allows for the sampling of a large number of respondents in a short amount of time (Nardi 2003:59). It allows researchers to test patterns and trends in the data that may not be as noticeable in the qualitative research. However, the discussion groups were important because they provided more detailed information on pupils' views and helped clarify the meanings they alluded to in the survey.
(d) Data collection
The data collection took place in one hour lessons and I structured it in a manner similar to a lesson; first explaining the purpose of the research and any ethical considerations, before initiating the survey and finally conducting a group discussion with a random sample of six to ten pupils. During the pilot study, pupils stated that they preferred this method and as a trained teacher, I am aware of the importance of helping pupils concentrate in lessons, so conducting the survey in silence was a good way of ensuring that they were focused (Bloor 2001:42-48).
I had originally designed the discussion groups for six pupils, but since a teacher's presence was required, not all schools were able to provide this additional support (or time). Therefore, I decided to conduct the same style of group discussion in every school, with all pupils present in the classroom. The class was divided into groups of three or four pupils and each group nominated a spokesperson to take part in the discussion on their behalf. The groups were then given five minutes to come up with a combined definition of terrorism that was used as a starting point. The pilot study showed that pupils preferred this method because it meant that anyone who had taken part in the survey could be involved in the group discussion. However, it was not ideal because focus groups can be unpredictable; the shyness of some pupils and the hierarchy within the peer group may have left some pupils feeling unable, or unwilling to take part. I am also aware that my teacher training allowed this style of discussion to take place—it may not have been as successful had I not known how to control large groups of pupils. Conducting the focus group in front of the entire class was appropriate though, because it ensured that participants were provided with early feedback on the results, which was important since they would have no access to academic publications (Bloor 2001:15).
Results
A random convenience sample was taken from seven different schools in Warwickshire: five schools were mixed comprehensive schools, one school was an all-boys grammar school and one school was an all-girls grammar school.
1. Quantitative survey
A total of 205 pupils, 104 boys and 101 girls, took part in the survey (Q1). There was a good range of pupils from both AS and A2 level courses: 57 pupils were aged 16, 97 pupils were 17 and 51 pupils were 18 (Q2). The pupils studied a wide variety of subjects from the sciences, to the arts and humanities, with the largest numbers coming from sociology, psychology and mathematics (Q3).
A high proportion of the pupils wanted to learn about the topic of terrorism in school, with 122 responding positively and 35 responding negatively; 64 were unsure (Q4). The pupils were then asked which subjects they thought were best for teaching about the topic. The highest numbers were recorded in Citizenship and RE, with Politics and History also featuring quite highly (Q5).
The pupils were asked to define 'terrorism' in an open-ended question (Q7). The majority of pupils stated that it caused harm to others, typically in the form of physical violence, but mental or psychological harm could also take place. 65 pupils made a religious link and 22 made a link to politics. Other ideas included making threats, hurting innocent people and fighting for an unjust cause.
To further clarify what the pupils thought about terrorism, rank order and Likert-style questions were asked, giving key examples of the typical motivations and threats/actions associated with the phenomena. For motivations, the pupils were asked to put the following categories in order of importance: anger, a desire to protect their family, hatred, money, personal violent desires, politics, racism or prejudices, religious ideas, revenge and for glory (Q8). Religious ideas were considered to be the most important motivation for terrorists, whilst money and for glory were considered the least important.
For threats and actions, the pupils were given a list of different activities, based on findings from the literature review (Q10). The results demonstrated that the pupils thought that the actions most associated with terrorism included: intimidation, the killing of non-military citizens, mass murder, suicide attacks and violent threats. However, they were less sure about Internet propaganda, making speeches, protest marches and trying to get nuclear weapons.
Once these questions were completed, two open-ended questions were asked concerning which groups or individuals the pupils had heard of (Q13) and which areas of the world the pupils thought these terrorists might come from (Q14). The majority of responses to Q13 included al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and the IRA. Only 183 respondents answered Q14, and 67 wrote 'anywhere' or 'no area'. The main regions that were mentioned included the Middle East, Iraq, Asia, Afghanistan and 'religious areas'. Only 2 pupils stated that terrorists could come from the UK, 5 pupils wrote the USA.
Finally, the pupils were asked if they thought that the topic of terrorism should be taught in schools (Q15). 122 agreed, 19 disagreed and 64 were unsure. In Q16 the pupils were asked to explain their response and 114 pupils said that they thought it needed teaching because pupils wanted to know why it happens. Many saw it as a current issue that could reduce prejudices against the Muslim community. However, 47 pupils were concerned about how the topic could be taught and said that it needed to be handled carefully or sensitively; 22 pupils said it could make the situation worse, and 17 were worried that people might take offence at the subject.
2. Qualitative semi-structured discussion groups
A total of 10 discussion groups took place with 36 girls and 44 boys taking part in 20 minute discussions (totalling 80 pupils). For each discussion, I followed a loose structure of questions concerning definitions of terrorism, before moving onto whether they felt terrorism was a topic they would like to study in school. Due to the broad range of responses gathered, it is difficult to summarise all the data within this paper. Therefore, I will only focus on the links made between religion and terrorism.
Generally, the pupils in the discussion groups did validate the responses found in the survey, with religion featuring very highly. Other motivations discussed included politics, power, social inequalities and economic concerns. The pupils also discussed the types of actions they associated with terrorism, with the incitement of fear and physical violence being the most discussed.
(a) Religion
Some pupils saw religion as a key feature of terrorism, whilst others declared that terrorists misunderstood the teachings of their faith. All the discussions included some details about Islam, above other faith groups, therefore I shall outline these ideas separately.
Those pupils who thought religion was a motivating factor had a range of views including: a clash of cultures or religion being behind terrorist attacks; the power of religion encouraging the activities, either through the promise of an afterlife or the use of religion to exert superiority; and finally prejudices, either against another religious group or against members of their own faith. Al-Qaeda was mentioned by a few pupils as a group who believed that they would get into heaven if they acted in a particular way for their God.
One female pupil declared that the people at the 'bottom' needed religion because it meant that a greater power was on their side; the people at the 'top' were more motivated by money and power and used religion to brainwash the followers. Another pupil commented that people believe in 'different Gods and things' and they disagree with each other, so 'go around terrorising everyone'. Perhaps different groups use religion in different ways: one pupil though that the IRA aimed to separate themselves from another religion, whereas al-Qaeda was trying to make theirs the central religion.
An important discussion point concerned prejudices, whether that was a religiously motivating feature of terrorism or not. One pupil declared that religion could cause more prejudices, thus make people perform acts of terrorism against others. Another group discussed the idea that terrorism could be an act against a religion, done to exert a different set of beliefs. One male pupil commented that terrorists were 'all Indians or whatever saying that they wanted to control everything… like ethnic cleansing'. However, other pupils saw terrorist attacks as a cause of prejudices, especially against Islam, rather than the result of them.
(i) Islam
Islam was mentioned in all discussion groups, with many pupils commenting that there was an increased prejudice against Muslims in society. Some pupils said that the media focussed more on Islamic forms of terrorism, which had caused an increase in Islamophobia and incorrect stereotypes. One said that the word terrorism made her instantly think of headscarves and Islam, even though she know that was not the case. This was similar to other comments on the stereotypical views of terrorists: terrorists were those from the Middle East, with a beard who flew planes or wore a turban. One interesting comment was that the 'it looks like the media is trying to increase Islamophobia …[because] it feels like the headlines are trying to give a certain idea or bias'.
However, what concerned a few pupils was what impact this increase in prejudices could have on society. One male pupil thought the media portrayed 'terrorists as Muslims, so all Muslims are terrorists, which will make more people turn to terrorism and bring terrorism fear'. Another said that 'now almost anyone with a dark skin is labelled as a Muslim and so called a terrorist', whilst one female pupil was concerned for her own safety 'because we all have the same colour face, people link Indians to Muslims'.
When asked further about their ideas, two pupils said that the promises of a good afterlife was a possible reason for some Muslims performing suicide attacks. Other groups discussed how terrorists had 'warped' interpretations of their religion. One female pupil said that those who acted in the name of Islam had read the Qur'an in a particular way; they think they are doing right by their religion, but they have not interpreted it correctly. Most groups agreed that it was only a small minority who committed terrorist attacks, with some saying that the most Muslims feel disgusted by the attacks.
(ii) Not religion
Not all pupils thought that terrorism was motivated by religion. Some declared that there was no link between religion and terrorism, whilst others said that religion was misused, misinterpreted or misrepresented by terrorists and the media, perhaps to gain power for political or social reasons. Some pupils stated that those involved in terrorism had been 'brainwashed' and other commented that religion was not the motivating factor because other things, such as troops invading a country, might make people act in that way. A different motivation given was politics, particularly for groups like the Tamil Tigers and the IRA.
(c) Education
With respect to education, the pupils were generally split on whether they thought it was a topic that should be taught in a school environment. Those who thought that it was beneficial declared that education could help reduce the problem of prejudice in society. Teaching about terrorism could increase pupil knowledge and awareness, so that they could understand why certain attacks, like 7/7, happened. Religious Education was mentioned as a subject where terrorism could be taught, but (despite the results in the survey) Citizenship/PHSE was rejected because the pupils felt that they did not pay enough attention in that subject.
However, despite this positivity, there were some who were concerned about teacher or government bias coming through the curriculum, with one pupil declaring that it could only be taught if the whole 'spectrum of terrorism' was open to discussion, not just Islamic groups. Another said that the government could be considered terrorists, but that aspect would probably be ignored. Some pupils thought that teaching about terrorism may in fact be detrimental to social integration, because some pupils may find it too upsetting or it could cause more prejudice and bullying in schools. It may even encourage someone to act in a negative way or make the situation worse.
Analysis
For this section, I will begin with an examination of the definitions provided by the pupils, making links between the data sets and literature review (particular Schmid's four arenas), where appropriate. I will then discuss how my findings could affect RE before suggesting areas for further investigation.
1. Definitions
In the survey and discussion groups, the pupils made links between terrorism and violence (both physical and mental/psychological), as well as to religion and politics. However, due to the nature of open-ended questions, there were many different styles of response, which could not be accommodated in this brief overview. I consequently chose key words or common phrases to summerise the answers.
(a) Religion and terrorism
Religion was considered a key aspect of terrorism in both data sets, but politics, racism, revenge and hatred were also discussed. Considering the impact the 'fourth wave' of terrorism (which focuses on religion, Rapoport 2004) has had in the academic, state and public/media arena, it is understandable that the pupils linked religion to terrorism. With respect to terrorist actions, the pupils thought that intimidation, mass murder, the killing of civilians and suicide attacks were good descriptions (Q10), which was similar to the foci in Schmid's study of the media arena (Schmid 1992:9). However, due to the limitations of this paper, I will only focus on suicide attacks because some pupils linked this action to religiously-motivated terrorism.
An important concept that came through both sources was the clash of cultures. In the group discussions one pupil stated it was East versus West, which is like a simplified version of Huntingdon's clash of civilisations theory, that basically states that there are a few world civilisations that differ on economic, military and ethical grounds, with Islamic and Western civilisations being the most prominent (Huntingdon 2002). This idea has probably seeped into the public arena as a simple explanation for such extreme actions.
The power of religion featured highly, with one survey respondent declaring that terrorists were 'willing to do anything for their religion as they believe it that strongly'. Some pupils used the phrase 'brainwashed,' which suggests that they think the terrorists may have been manipulated into behaving in that way. Popularised images of brainwashing support this idea; television programmes like Derren Brown's Trick of the Mind (2005) demonstrate the loss of control over actions. However, 'brainwashing' is more complex than these popularised images suggest, but this discussion goes beyond the scope of this paper.
Some pupils stated that terrorism was a religious action, performed by 'religious people trying to force their ideas on non-believers'. The most discussed action was self-sacrifice or martyrdom and 87% of all survey respondents associated suicide attacks with terrorism. These results were expected because suicide attacks are considered a feature of 'new terrorism' (Rapport 2004:62), with groups such as al-Qaeda and the Tamil Tigers employing these tactics, thus gaining publicity in the media. However, there is a subtle difference between the terms suicide attacks and martyrdom; the latter has religious overtones and suggests that the participant's death was not in vain but rather that they suffered (and died) to aid a cause, a group of people, a country or an organization. It is likely that the pupils associate the suicide attacks with terrorism because these gain the most publicity. The concept of self-sacrifice or martyrdom is a crucial element that explains how the pupils perceive the nature and style of terrorist attacks. According to Appleby, self-sacrifice was an important element of this type of violence (Appleby 1999:91) and groups such as Hamas believe that 'with the first drop of his blood the martyr is said to go straight to Paradise' (Appleby 1999:25). Therefore, the promise of an afterlife helps to explain why someone might commit an act that is so contrary to human nature. However, there may be other reasons behind such attacks, such as responding to a perceived threat or attack on a community (see Girard 1972:259 and Juergensmeyer 2000:12), but these reasons were not discussed in detail by the pupils.
The perceived prejudices between religions (or in a religion) are linked to the clash of cultures idea (mentioned earlier) because it is the differences between people that cause conflict. However, this may be more complex than simply a difference of beliefs, as one pupil mentioned 'ethnic cleansing' in the group discussions. According to Weber, ethnic divisions do encourage conflicts, in particular the idea of a 'chosen people' (Weber 1978:239). This links into the notion of (religious) purity, with one pupil calling Hitler a terrorist because he wanted a pure race and another pupil defining terrorism as 'religiously backed form of cleansing'.
(i) Islam
The most frequently mentioned religion was Islam, which was predicted because the Prevent Strategy states that Islam (rather than any other religion) requires better understanding, particularly within the education sector (HM Government 2008:18). It is also a topic discussed in the local and national media—some pupils had noticed a media bias and said that some stories made them associate Islam with terrorism, even though they knew that was not necessarily the case. However, one pupil said that this media focus was 'their own doing', which suggests that some pupils may have thought the links made between Islam and terrorism were justified, but were unwilling to speak out in the classroom. Therefore, although the majority of comments concerned the view that terrorists were a minority group who had a 'warped' interpretation of Islam, there may have been alternative views that did not surface, due to the nature of the data collection. The fear of expressing prejudice was highlighted by a number of pupils, with some noting that they thought teaching about the topic of terrorism would lead to a government bias being highlighted in the curriculum. As the Communities and Local Government Committee stated, the Prevent Strategy had focussed too greatly on Islam (HM Government 2010:11), therefore before such a topic can be broached in schools, the Prevent Strategy needs to be altered so that schools are better informed about the topics that they should discuss.
(b) Religious Education
The results from the survey showed that a high proportion of pupils wanted to learn about the topic of terrorism, with Citizenship and RE being the two most popular subjects for such studies. Post-16 Citizenship is taken by every pupil, but RE is primarily an optional subject, therefore it is possible that the pupils thought that terrorism was a topic that could be discussed by all pupils, as well as in more detail within specific subject areas. However, it is more likely that the pupils did not consider the difference between secondary and post-16 education when they chose the subjects, therefore these two subjects could have received the most positive results because pupils thought that the topic was best suited for general curriculum areas. More detailed questions about subject choices were included in the group discussions, but some of the results contradicted the quantitative data; some pupils stated that Citizenship was not appropriate for the topic. Interestingly though, RE was still considered a key subject in the group discussions, but the pupils did not specify which age group they thought was appropriate. The surrounding discussion on those occasions focused on 14-16 secondary school education, so it is likely that they were referring to the more general RE teaching rather than the Alevel subject. However, if this is the case, it is interesting that no pupil highlighted a concern with their attitude towards RE—particularly considering the recent OFSTED report that stated RE Education is inadequate in many schools (OFSTED 2010). After carefully examining the definitions the pupils provided, I would speculate that the pupils may consider RE teachers more appropriate sources for such discussions because they should have a better knowledge base of religion, making them more trustworthy sources. The pupils were concerned that terrorism could be misrepresented and therefore they may have felt better being taught about such a controversial issue by someone who should be aware of these difficulties. As the RE Council of England and Wales reported, RE can help pupils appreciate diversity and explain the religious links made to extremist behaviour, which were areas discussed by the pupils in both the survey and the group discussions. However, due to time constraints, I was unable to question the pupils further on the matter and future research will be conducted to gather more detailed data on how they think RE could be used for this subject matter.
(i) Suggestions for future research
Areas for future research could include replica studies conducted with younger pupils (participants of my study suggested pupils aged 14-16) in other local authorities, to get a broader range of views. Teacher surveys could also be conducted, to see what RE teachers know about the topic and what resources they would like to have prior to introducing it into their classrooms, which could also help provide further information to teacher training institutes about what needs to be discussed with those going into classrooms. I would also recommend action research projects, to try different methods of introducing the topic into RE lessons. One method could be to give pupils a wider knowledge base through an historical overview of the topic (demonstrating how the links to religion are considered a relatively recent construct), prior to discussing more specific details on the subject. Examples of terrorism could also be discussed, but the teacher would have to be confident with his/her knowledge on the subject and discuss a variety of examples from different religions (and non-religious groups), to ensure that pupils did not simply associate such actions with members of one religion (in this case, Islam). An action research project could also show the affects of including terrorism studies into RE; hopefully, it will help reduce the pupils' fear of such attacks and make the subject more current and interesting, but it could also have a negative impact and increase pupil prejudices. Such studies would also help teacher training courses because they would provide institutions with more information on what teachers need to know about the subject and also help them present the data to the pupils in the best way possible. Although I found that pupils want to know about terrorism, associate terrorism with religion and consider RE an appropriate subject for studying the topic, additional research needs to be conducted to see if RE can indeed be used in this way. Once such studies have been completed, better guidelines can be established, more teacher training made available and classroom materials produced.
Conclusion
As this paper demonstrated, terrorism is a complex phenomenon, with no single definition. The term is used in a pejorative manner to describe certain actions that are considered criminal by one group trying to gain power over another. It is used in different ways by academics, the state, the media and by those groups who have been labelled 'terrorist', therefore it is difficult to know exactly what is meant when someone uses the term.
However, in UK law, the term describes certain criminal activities, such as suicide attacks and assassinations, that are linked to particular motivations, including religion and politics. This makes it a controversial and sensitive topic for schools to be engaging with, particularly since one religion, Islam, is generally considered the inspiration for the negative criminal behaviour that the government wants to prevent. Furthermore, despite the Prevent Strategy suggesting that education could be used to help combat terrorism and violent extremism (HM Government 2008), there is little advice for how schools could incorporate the topic into the curriculum. Consequently, local authorities have been encouraged to interpret the plans and use them appropriately for their areas, which has led to some difficulties. For example, Warwickshire (an area with low Prevent funding) has only been able to engage with teachers through police initiatives such as a free website and training courses, so this region focuses on the criminality of terrorism rather than answering the questions that the pupils have about the topic, which restricts its usefulness to teachers and pupils.
After collecting data from 205 pupils for the survey and 80 pupils for the group discussions, I found that the pupils did think the topic of terrorism should be taught in schools and it was something they wanted to know about, but they were concerned with how this could be implemented because teachers may show a certain bias (either their own or government), which could lead to racist attacks. They generally defined terrorism as acts of violence, either physical or mental, that had been motivated by religion and/or politics. The actions of terrorists included mass murder, the killing of civilians and suicide attacks, and they thought that terrorists were mainly motivated by religious ideas, politics and racism.
The pupils thought that in principle the subjects which could include such teaching included Citizenship/PHSE, Religious Education, Politics and History, but in practice the pupils were unsure if Citizenship was appropriate because they did not pay attention in that subject and thought that the topic may be too sensitive for their schools. However, RE was deemed appropriate both in principle and in practice, therefore, it is important to understand the role that RE could have in countering terrorism. An action research project could be conducted to test how RE could be used to help alleviate pupil fears of terrorism or reduce prejudices. Perhaps providing them with a detailed historical overview of the topic, or informing them of multiple examples from a variety of religious and non-religious groups, could help combat any misunderstandings they have about terrorism. However, further research needs to be conducted and additional teacher training in higher education facilities needs to be provided to ensure that RE teachers are able to teach the topic without accidentally increasing prejudice. Overall, this paper has tried to demonstrate the difficulties with understanding the topic of terrorism by highlighting the complex nature of the phenomenon and the problems with using the term. Despite these problems though, it is a topic that pupils want to know about and therefore, I would argue that schools can incorporate it into their curriculum, for pupils over the age of 14, after further research has been conducted and additional classroom materials or training has been made available. Terrorism is an interesting subject matter for pupils, but it is also a very sensitive topic and needs to be dealt with appropriately before it can be introduced.
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