Guildford College is the UK’s first further-education college to roll out the new "Inclusive, Cohesive & Safe Campuses and Colleges" course to tackle the issue of integration, understanding, and religious freedoms.

One of the requirements of this new legislation is that all public-sector organisations must take responsibility to ensure they are compliant with the new laws - particularly those that deal with children and vulnerable adults. The new "Inclusive, Cohesive & Safe Campuses and Colleges" course fulfils the legal requirements of the Terrorism and Security Act 2015, while not compromising the values of equality and diversity.

Guildford College engaged Marshall to help them implement a training programme that will assist in educating academic and support staff members to not just address the core of the Prevent strategy, but to actively promote inclusiveness and community on campus.

Universities and colleges already have a duty to safeguard their students, but Marshall’s new course puts into perspective the types of  discussions higher-education and further-education employees can and should be having with their students about managing views in a safe environment, including what this means within a diverse society and how best to manage that process.

David Marshall, founder and director of Marshall, explained why they developed the course. "When we spoke to colleagues and clients in the higher education sector about how we could best fulfil their training needs in the wake of the Prevent legislation, the legal and ethical challenges facing campuses became clear. This course is about making your campus more inclusive and caring by helping people to communicate with each other in a positive way. We’ve worked hard to create a course that is within our values."

Created by Michael Howard and Daniel Whiston, both specialists at Marshall’s, this unique course looks to recast and broaden universities’ and colleges’ views and understanding about what makes an inclusive, cohesive, and safe campus.

Even though both Michael and Daniel are well experienced in creating eLearning courses around similar issues, such as Equality & Diversity, creating the "Inclusive, Cohesive & Safe Campuses and Colleges" course was a challenge.

"Creating the course was a real balancing act", stated Marshall consultant Daniel Whiston. "We wanted to stick to Marshall’s core values as far as possible and not take advantage of an urgent need among our clients for training in this area. Instead, the course we have created – the first of its kind – is a comprehensive look at the issues involved and how universities, colleges, and other education institutions can navigate their way through these sensitive issues within a safe environment."

The course will form part of a suite of courses and will be rolled out a little later this year.