Creating a culture of respect and understanding

Radical movements often fail to recognise fundamental rights such as equality or respect for human rights. This means that alongside addressing radicalisation, schools need to teach students about tolerance, equal rights and human rights. In this article teachers can find tools and inspiration to help schools embrace diversity and counter discrimination.

Lessons from Anne Frank’s story

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is an enduring reminder of how hate and intolerance have damaged human lives and societies, but also acts to build empathy and understanding today.

Active in over 70 countries, the Anne Frank House organisation spreads its timeless message of tolerance with exhibitions, educational programmes and workshops for young people and professionals. These initiatives explore Anne Frank’s life, the Holocaust, antisemitism, racism, prejudice and discrimination.

Members of the worldwide Anne Frank Youth Network share their thoughts in the following video: 

Stories that Move is a free online toolbox for teaching about diversity and discrimination, based on videos of young Europeans talking about their personal experiences. The interactive assignments challenge learners aged 13 years and older to reflect on their own views and choices and build connections. It is available in 9 languages.

Schools supporting human rights education and addressing radicalisation

Human rights education is essential to tackle radicalisation that can often be rooted in prejudice or a lack of understanding.

The Human Rights Friendly School guide was created by Amnesty International to help schools promote principles of equality, dignity, respect, non-discrimination and participation. The guide uses case studies (available in English, French and Spanish) to give information and tools to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate a school’s journey to becoming human rights friendly.

The Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) works across Europe to help communities prevent violent extremism. Its Youth and Education Working Group aims to empower and build capacities for teachers and youth workers to address radicalisation.

As the video above shows, addressing controversial topics can be challenging for teachers. The UNESCO guidelines propose five practical steps for managing classroom discussion on violent extremism:

1. Define learning objectives that cover three domains of learning: cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural.
2. Prepare to anticipate challenges and opportunities for discussion.
3. Identify the right moment for the discussion and set ground rules.
4. Frame the subject in a way that helps learners to explore their own values and opinions and manage their emotional responses.
5. Debrief and follow up to ensure no misunderstandings and unresolved tensions remain between learners.

Similarly, the EUROGUIDE project has created educational resources around topics such as polarisation, youth radicalisation and resilience against disinformation and fake news. Their handbook, training programme and quiz are available in 6 languages.

Share your views by answering our survey on teaching sensitive and controversial topics – the survey is open until 28 February 2025.