What do you think about migrants?

What do I want to find out?

Find out what pupils think about migrants and whether pupils associate positive, neutral or negative characteristics with them. Explore pupils critical thinking skills and their awareness of bias in the media representation of migrants.

What do I need?

• A set of statements in a bag.
• A recording template.

What do I do?

Timing: 15 minutes

• Ask the pupils what the word migrant means to them. Record the pupils´ responses yourself.

• Ask the pupils to stand in a circle – facing outwards.

• Ask them to put one hand behind their backs.

• Explain to them that they should express whether they agree or disagree with the statements you are about to read to them. If they agree, they should give the thumbs up, if they disagree, they should keep their fist clenched, and keep their hand flat if they neither agree nor disagree, or don’t know.

• Make sure that the pupils understand the voting system. When they are ready, ask a pupil to dip into the bag, pull out a statement and read it out.

• Migrants bring new perspectives on things.
• Migrants increase the crime rate.
• Migrants contribute to the cultural diversity of our country.
• Migrants take jobs away from UK citizens.
• Migrants speak many languages.
• Migrants take advantage of our health and welfare systems.
• Migrants do the jobs that local people can’t or won’t do.
• Migrants don’t adapt to British culture.
• Migrants help create new jobs.
• Most migrants can’t be bothered to learn English.
• Migrants pay more in taxes than they take in benefits.
• This country is so overcrowded we don’t have room for more migrants.
• Our health service would collapse without migrants.
• I would like to live and work in another country one day.

• Write down how many times each statement was voted for.
• Share the results with the pupils and ask them to comment on it. Ask for a justification for the most popular statements. Do the same with the least popular statements.

How do I analyse the results?

• Look for whether pupils have negative preconceptions about migrants. Are their attitudes towards migrants, their behaviour, work and the things they contribute to the new country, negative, neutral or positive?

Each statement above can be categorised as either a statement of opportunity or a statement of threat.

• Migrants bring new perspectives on things. (o)
• Migrants increase the crime rate. (t)
• Migrants contribute to the cultural diversity of our country. (o)
• Migrants take jobs away from UK citizens. (t)
• Migrants speak many languages. (o)
• Migrants take advantage of our health and welfare systems. (t)
• Migrants do the jobs that local people can’t or won’t do. (o)
• Migrants don’t adapt to British culture. (t)
• Migrants help create new jobs. (o)
• Most migrants can’t be bothered to learn English. (t)
• Migrants pay more in taxes than they take in benefits. (o)
• This country is so overcrowded we don’t have room for more migrants. (t)
• Our health service would collapse without migrants. (o)
• I would like to live and work in another country one day. (o)

• Count the number of votes for opportunity statements and the number of votes for threat statements. Note the balance between the two.

• To what extent are they able to see migrants as individuals or do they make sweeping generalisations about all migrants?
• Note which country or continent they are referring to. Do pupils make assumptions about the origin of migrants?

How do I measure the change?

• Ask the pupils to come up with their own statements and to provide a justification for using them. This may bring a completely new perspective of migrants, not limited only to the level of opportunity versus threat. For example, Migrants are brave people that were not afraid to leave their countries for a new one; Migrants do not want to go back to their countries of origin. There might also be some statements that refer to their unequal status in the country.
• Analyse these statements as per the first audit.
• Note what differences there are. Are pupils more likely to value the contribution of migrants? Are they less likely to make generalisations?
• Observe how well pupils are able to debate and discuss, and whether it has improved from the first audit. Are they more willing to listen to others’ opinions and can they identify media bias?

Featured image, pam-no-person-is-illegal, by Miguelb. Via Flickr