Teaching and learning about refugees: promoting community cohesion through the citizenship curriculum

ITE session

To promote strategies and resources for increasing pupils’ awareness of the experiences of refugees.

To provide practical ways of developing participation and supporting community cohesion.  

Aims

You were asked to:

1. Acquaint yourselves with the main findings of the DCSF Diversity and Citizenship Curriculum Review 2007

2. Explore Refugee Action’s Refugee Awareness Project InfoVault website to a) become aware of some classroom materials that are available to increase awareness of refugeesb) learn key definitions.

Pre-session activity discussion feedback

Some findings and proposals of the Citizenship Curriculum Review (2007)

Tenuous schools’ links with the communityDiscrimination and stereotypesMany teachers do not see the link between their

subject and education for diversityThe secondary curriculum for Citizenship

Education should encourage societal and community cohesion through an understanding of shared values

New curriculum element entitled 'Identity and Diversity: Living Together in the UK'

Activity 1

Why learn about refugees in school?

Why teach about refugees?Duties on Race Equality and Community

CohesionA safer placeYoung people's viewsNot easy to access accurate informationReal opportunities for engaging young people

in critical analysis Links with global citizenship issues at local,

national and international levels

Activity 2

Definitions bingo!

A refugee is someone who has had to leave his or her country and who is afraid to return there ‘owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.’(1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees)

A person with refugee status is protected from being returned to their country of origin

An asylum-seeker is a person who has left his or her country of origin, has applied for recognition as a refugee in another country and is awaiting a decision on his/her application

‘I went with my stepfather by bus and had to leave Mum behind. I still remember the war. I saw somebody killed and I remember that. We were afraid of being killed.’ Farukh

‘After two months we settled own, but then we started to have other problems..children started to throw stones and call us names. Those two months of my life were terrible.’ Girl, aged 14

‘There is so much ignorance that goes on whilst individuals make decisions and comments about refugees; they seem to forget that we are human beings….’ Loan, 18

Refugee movementsJewish refugees from Germany, Austria and

Czechoslovakia: 1933 -1939Polish refugees: 1939 and post 1945Hungarians: 1956 -1957Czech refugees:1968Chileans: 1974 - 1979Vietnamese: 1979 - 1992From 1989 - 2002 asylum migration increased.

Flows vary from year to yearSince 2002 main countries of origin: DR Congo,

Iran, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe.

World Refugee Survey 2008 More than 14 million refugees in the world1 million people fled their homelands in 2007 Iraq is the source of most new refugeesAlmost two-thirds of all the world’s refugees are

found in just two regions: the Middle East and Africa

The least developed countries in the world host the majority of the world’s refugees - over 90% live in Africa, the Middle East, and South and Central Asia

Under 4% of the world’s refugees live in Europe

www.refugees.org

Refugees coming to the UK24,000 asylum applications in 2007More than 80% fall since 2002Less than 5000 granted Refugee Status3,000 applications from unaccompanied asylum

seeker childrenSecondary refuge migration from other EU

countries (eg. Somalis who have obtained citizenship in Germany, Netherlands and Scandinavia)

Countries accounting for most applicants in 2007 were, in order of greatest numbers, Afghanistan, Iran, China, Iraq, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nigeria

Curriculum links Learning about refugees links closely with National

Curriculum Programmes of Study across many subject areas. For example in English, history, religious education, citizenship education and PSHE

Studying refugees helps pupils to understand how they are linked to other nations

Key concept - Identities and diversity: living together in the UK

KS3 and 4: Cross-curriculum dimensions

Identity and cultural diversity Community participation Global dimension and

sustainable development

http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/cross-curriculum-dimensions/index.aspx

Rabbi Hugo Gryn (1930-1996)

"I believe that how you are to people to whom you owe nothing is a signal. It is the critical signal that we give to our young and I hope and pray that is a test that we shall not fail."

Assessed tasks linked to NC attainment targets for Citizenship

 What can children and young people do as a result of their learning?

Important to develop assessed tasks, promoting activities that allow students, for example, to work collaboratively with others from the wider community to negotiate, plan and carry out action aimed at making a difference to the lives of others (Attainment target for citizenship: Level 5)

Community Cohesion: Teaching, learning and the curriculum

Helping children to understand othersValue diversityShared valuesAwareness of human rightsSkills of participation and responsible

action

Activity 3: key issues and approaches

Identify some common concerns you have about raising the issues of refugees in the classroom and wider school community

Choose one concern or issue and, in your group, discuss possible approaches to resolve the concerns

Strategies for teaching about refugees

Developing knowledge & understanding, empathy, legal/human rights, public discourse

Games, quizzes, stories and testimony, role play and drama, literature, surveys and media projects

Listening to refugee voicesCelebrating famous refugees, those we have a debt toUsing literatureUsing drama to assist the development of trust

between young people, facilitate an honest engagement that promotes understanding and empathy and enable collaborative and communicative skills to be explicitly taught

www.refugeeweek.org.uk

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Teaching tools www.unhcr.org.uk/info/resources/teachtools.html

The Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees (ICAR) www.icar.org.uk

Refugee Council: Press myths and the facts

www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/campaigning/takeaction/campaigners_pack

Refugee Action: Asylum in the media

www.refugee-action.org.uk/news/asyluminthemedia.aspx

i-Kooch in Schools – Bridge and Tunnel productions

Online teaching pack with drama approaches, guidance and activities

www.bridgeandtunnelproductions.com/OurProjectsiKS.html

Teaching controversial issues

‘Collaborative strategies… seek to gain the active co-operation of young people so as to engage them in genuine dialogue. For this to happen, they need to feel their own experiences are respected and their views listened to’ Education for Citizenship, Diversity and Race Equality: A practical guide, The Citizenship Foundation, 2003

Teaching controversial issues: DEA Guidance for teachers exploring contentious world events with students

www.citizenship-global.org.uk/controversial.html

A Global DimensionGlobal citizenshipConflict resolutionDiversityHuman rights

• Interdependence• Social justice • Sustainable development• Values and perceptions

‘The challenge for anyone who cares about social justice is making connections between the near and the distant. That’s why our understanding of, for example, how everyday objects embody labour in another part of the world is important.’ Adam Hochschild

‘Nations and peoples are largely the stories they feed themselves. If they tell themselves stories that are lies, they will suffer the future consequences of those lies. If they tell themselves stories that face their own truths, they will free their histories for future flowerings’

Ben Okri

DVD This is where I live - Runnymede Trust www.runnymedetrust.org/projects/this-is-where-i-live.html

Slavery, racism and resistance: a lesson for citizenship. Video Art Postcards - Runnymede and Manifesta www.runnymedetrust.org/projects/video-art-postcards.html

BBC Learning Zone Broadband www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/schools/ for Teaching notes downloads include ‘Race: Changing attitudes’

Changes in public policyRising levels of Islamophobia and demonisation of

Muslims in media since 9/11 (2001) and 7/7 (2005)Moving debate away from racism and government

policies that have embedded inequality and discrimination

Implicit blaming of minority communities for not integrating

New government led discourse of ‘community cohesion’

Idea that nation needs a certain ‘social glue’ Debates on ‘Britishness’Harder route to citizenship; requirement of English

language proficiency, oaths of allegiance, citizenship tests

McPherson - 10 years on

Ealing: The monitoring Group has noticed a shift towards attacks on refugees

Manchester: The Council for Community Relations has seen evidence of a new wave of violence aimed at asylum seekers and migrant workers from Eastern Europe

Tower Hamlets: Church leader mentions increasing state harassment of irregular migrants. “Now the issue is about what defines us as a country: who is included and who is not”.

Five year strategy 2004Temporary leave for refugeesHigher targets for removalsStronger border controls and

electronic checksFinding ways to return

unaccompanied asylum seeking children

Detention

Around 2,000 asylum seeker children detained each year

Held in prison like conditions. Lack of proper play facilities; education inadequate

Research shows that children suffer emotional, physical and psychological harm

Loss of appetite, infections, weight loss, listlessness, boredom, incontinence, difficult sleeping, fear and loneliness

The resistance: On the deportation frontline

In a Guardian Films report, Rachel Stevenson and Harriet Grant meet the people trying to prevent the deportation and forced destitution of refugees

See the film onlinewww.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2008/jun/13/deportation.asylum.seekers

‘The man jumped from two floors up…then they led out his wife and her children. They were crying. It was then I decided I was not going to stand by anymore.’ Kingsway Estate resident, Glasgow

“Isn’t it wonderful how there are so many different races and so many different colours in the world…if this world didn’t have all of this our lives would be pretty boring, not bright and colourful like we have now.”

“Why stereotype? Why categorise? If you can’t be yourself who can you be?” “I want people to be aware of who people really are and not just what the media says.” “I want people to be more aware of how racism affects people in the long term.”

What students at Lampton School say (see Positive Press, Save the Children 2008)

QTS standardsQ11: Know the assessment requirements and

arrangements for the subjects/curriculum areas they are trained to teach.

Q14: Have a secure knowledge and understanding of their subjects/curriculum areas and related pedagogy to enable them to teach effectively across the age and ability range for which they are trained.

Q15: Know and understand the relevant statutory and non-statutory curricula and frameworks, including those provided through the National Strategies, for their subjects/curriculum areas, and other relevant initiatives applicable to the age and ability range for which they are trained.

QTS standardsQ19: Know how to make effective personalised

provision for those they teach … and how to take practical account of diversity and promote equality and inclusion in their teaching.

Q25: (a) use a range of teaching strategies and resources …taking practical account of diversity and promoting equality and inclusion.

(b) build on prior knowledge, develop concepts and processes, enable learners to apply new knowledge, understanding and skills and meet learning objectives.

Further activity: planning a curriculum project

Planning a project that raises awareness about refugees.

 • Involve young people from the start• Use questions provided to help planning• Consider a classroom or small group project or one

across the whole school or wider community. Some ideas:• Study of media coverage of asylum issues. • Research leading to displays and campaigning• A questionnaire to find out about attitudes towards

certain groups.