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Teaching Tools
This
section aims to highlight the relevance of refugee issues
across the curriculum and provides examples of possible lessons
or topics of study for History,
Geography, Mathematics,
Language and Literature, Art and Design,
Religious Education
and Citizenship/Moral/Human
Rights Education.
You
can also find here details of our educational resources as
well as downloadable
lesson plans and UNHCR's
educational resources list. For
contact details and information on how to order please click
here.
Why
teach refugee issues?
There
are refugees in virtually every country in the world and they
are often in the headlines. Yet the reality of refugees' lives and those of Internally Displaced Persons
is frequently misunderstood. At a time when one in every
100 people in the world has been forced to flee persecution,
violence or war, it is crucial to help students to understand
this important contemporary issue.
How
can I teach about refugees?
Across
the Curriculum
There are many opportunities for the study of refugees and
asylum to be incorporated into the curriculum of schools in
the United Kingdom. The refugee issue revolves around fundamental
questions of human rights, justice and identity and has significance
for most, if not all, subjects taught in UK schools today.
Refugee issues can shed light on politics, current events,
environment, social services, social studies, and much more.
For
more information on how refugee issues are relevant across
the curriculum click here.
Citizenship/Moral
Education
In today's world increasing numbers of people are not able
to avail themselves of the protection of their state and therefore
require the protection of the global community. Refugees are
a painful living reminder of the failure of societies to exist
in peace and our responsibility to help those forced to flee.
Flight often follows human rights' abuses and violations as
well as various forms of social breakdown, including war.
These issues are linked to concepts such as justice, equality,
tolerance, freedom, minority rights and the formation of community.
Refugees can be the subject of work units on human rights,
nationalism, racism, immigration, persecution and war - units
well suited to the citizenship/moral education curriculum.
Further information available
here.
World
Refugee Day - 20th June
Special events such as World
Refugee Day and Refugee
Week provide additional opportunities for children to
explore international refugee issues and to celebrate the
positive contribution of refugees in the UK. Schools can take
part in numerous ways including making displays, planning
drama events or concerts to raise awareness, focussing assemblies
on refugee issues and inviting speakers. Further ideas, information
and resources can be obtained from UNHCR's Public
Information Unit.
Finally….
the main emphasis of work on refugee issues in schools should
always be on encouraging children to relate to the personal aspects of the refugee experience. This
can be achieved through photographs, testimonies and inviting
in speakers. Such studies should encourage students to empathise
with refugee students and to develop a wider understanding
of tolerance and difference.
Some
of the educational resources available from UNHCR and UNHCR
in the UK:
- Teacher's
guides and films - the popular animated film
'Carly' (ages 5-8 years) which comes with an accompanying teacher's guide, including suggestions
for lesson plans. In addition, the kit 'Human Rights, Refugees
and UNHCR' (ages 9-18 years) is designed to help teachers
prepare lessons which demonstrate the relationship between
refugee protection and human rights.
- Booklets and brochures - including 'Refugee children: escape from persecution and war', 'Refugee Teenagers', and leaflets on the
work of UNHCR.
- Posters
and display materials - we have a variety of posters
to send out to schools. In addition schools may borrow various
displays, including ones featuring refugee women, the environment
and a history of refugees since the 1950s. We also have a collection of paintings
by refugee children living in camps in Kenya and Thailand,
which may also be loaned out free of charge.
- 'Against All Odds' game - an online game that puts players in the position of a refugee as they try to flee their homeland and seek sanctuary in a strange, new country. This can be played in one lesson or longer.
To play click here.
How
to order:
To
order any of the above resources, or if you would like
further advice and information on refugees and our work,
please contact us at the addresses below:
Public
Information Unit
UNHCR
Strand Bridge House
138-142 Strand
London
WC2R 1HH1
Tel: 020 7759 8090
Fax: 020 7759 8119
Email:gbrloea@unhcr.org
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