Training document used to teach inspectors updated after campaign by celebrities including Chris PackhamOfsted, the body responsible for safeguarding in education in England, has…
The story
Training document used to teach inspectors updated after campaign by celebrities including Chris Packham
Ofsted, the body responsible for safeguarding in education in England, has dropped guidance for inspectors that linked autism and extremism after an outcry from celebrity campaigners.
Details
An education minister has disclosed that an updated training document “no longer includes reference to children with autism” after claims that it was “offensive” and “clumsy” discrimination.
It follows demonstrations involving the naturalist Chris Packham and the comedians Paul Whitehouse and Johnny Vegas and comes amid deepening concerns over the number of autistic children who have been referred to Prevent, the government’s deradicalisation programme.
The Guardian disclosed a year ago that a document used to teach hundreds of inspectors said that children with autism are “at increased risk of being susceptible to extremism” and “can be drawn into extremism”.
Entitled Inspection Safeguarding Session – Prevent Extract 2024, the document, first identified by the human rights group Rights & Security International, said: “Children and young people with autism are at increased risk of being susceptible to extremism. This is because they are more likely to develop special interests.
“Due to this and any social communication needs, children with autism are more likely to experience social isolation and so use the internet as a way to find friends. They trust the information they read and the ‘friends’ that they find online and so can be drawn into extremism,” it said.
The National Autistic Society said the document risked stigmatising autistic traits, while a human rights organisation said the manual’s teachings “draw a target on autistic children”.
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