ELearning provider Cylix has announced the launch of its new Working with the Prevent Duty course, which has been specifically designed for universities and colleges. As Steven Price, Cylix’s Managing Director, explains, “All universities and colleges now have a legal duty to help counter the threat posed by radicalisation, and a key part of this is the provision of appropriate training to staff. Our course will enable this training to be provided in a highly flexible, engaging, and cost-effective format.”

With a total run time of an hour, Cylix’s new course provides a concise introduction to the essential aspects of the Prevent Duty that all staff need to understand and help implement. It's structured into four bite-sized sections, enabling staff to study it in short sessions and find the specific information they need, when they need it:

Understanding the risk
- What is radicalisation?
- The radicalisation process
- The Prevent Duty and what it means in practice
- Implementing Prevent sensitively, to protect both people and their freedoms

How you can help
- Promoting tolerance
- Recognising vulnerability to radicalisation
- Responding to concerns
- Understanding next steps and how Channel can help and support the vulnerable

What would you do?
Series of case studies in which users need to decide what to do in a range of realistic situations

Test your knowledge
Comprehensive mastery test to check each user’s understanding of the key points covered

The course makes extensive use of case studies and scenarios – all set within an educational context – to give staff the opportunity to explore realistic situations, assess the issues, and identify the best course of action in each case. As Price remarks, “The Prevent Duty is about putting sensible safeguards in place to protect people from a very real threat. However, if it’s implemented in a heavy-handed way, there’s a danger it can undermine many of the things it’s intended to promote. Our course will provide staff with a practical guide to implementing the Prevent Duty in a positive way, in order to protect the vulnerable, without marginalising groups or suppressing important freedoms.”

As an online learning resource, staff can study the course whenever and wherever suits them, and this flexibility extends through to deployment: Cylix can host the course under its own learning-management system, or it can be deployed under any suitable third-party learning-management system. Either way, administrators can track and report on usage at any time, providing a full audit trail for compliance and return-on-investment purposes.