Beatrice de Graaf develops teaching program about terrorism, radicalization and polarization
A couple of weeks ago, NOS.nl paid attention to the newly developed teaching program Ter Info by Prof Dr Beatrice de Graaf (History of International Relations). NOS Jeugdjournaal also discussed the teaching program in their daily show.
Suppose a terrorist attack takes place, how do you discuss this as a teacher in a classroom full of young children? After the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, terrorist expert De Graaf was frequently asked to speak at schools about terrorism, radicalization and polarization.
Ter Info
This gave her the idea to develop the Ter Info teaching program. Ter Info is a web app that helps teachers discuss terrorism with students in a clear, factual and connecting way. Ter Info was created as part of the Taskforce Utrecht zijn we samen, an initiative of De Graaf. Last week, the program was used for the first time at De Regenboog, a primary school in Utrecht.
Attack in Utrecht
After the attack on a tram a couple of weeks ago, the need for information about terrorism became even greater, says Remco van de Peut, primary school teacher. "Terrorism is usually something that happens far away, but now it suddenly happened close to home, in Utrecht. The children had to stay inside that day and their parents had to come and pick them up from school. That was quite scary", De Peut adds.
NOS Jeugdjournaal
NOS Jeugdjournaal attended a lesson about terrorism at a primary school in Utrecht. "It's actually pretty bad that we already have to teach children about terrorism. But if an attack has been committed somewhere, children often ask their teacher if they should be afraid," De Graaf says. View the clip here (Dutch).
Beatrice de Graaf
Beatrice de Graaf is a historian, and also connected to Institutions for Open Societies - an interdisciplinary research area of Utrecht University focused on the development and expansion of healthy open societies everywhere.