London secondary school exploring causes of hunger together with Indian partner school

Posted by Liz Allum

Background

Ours is an all-through (Primary and Secondary, age 3 – 18) school, with 2,400 students on the roll. We have links with four partner schools overseas, but also engage in wider global activities. Global learning is integrated well through several curriculum areas. The School Development Plan includes global learning, which is fostered throughout the school. 

What did we want to find out?  

Together with our partner school in India we wanted to establish the students’ level of awareness about the reasons for poverty and compare findings. As part of this process, we wanted to find out what action students would be prompted to take in order to make a difference. It was assumed by teachers from both schools that students would have some knowledge about the reasons behind hunger.

We wanted:

  • To establish a sense of empathy among pupils, and encourage them to reflect.
  • To motivate students to develop debating and critical thinking skills, which would enable them, as well as their community, to take action to make a positive contribution to reducing poverty.
  • To develop a sense of personal responsibility and to appreciate how this could have positive impacts both locally and globally.

Initial audit/measuring activity

The activity Why are people hungry? was used in our school, and in our partner school in India. It was used to introduce a generic global activity. This activity generated good group discussion and debate.

We modified the method by using hexagon shapes as well as a diamond to collect and analyse the data.

Key comments included:

I got the most important information from this activity which was that food was not shared out fairly. So this year in the elections I’ll tell my parents to choose the right one for the seat of prime minister who can improve our country 

Year 7 student, Partner School (India)

We learnt that farmers do not use new ways of growing food

Year 7 student, Partner School (India)

We learned that people are not only hungry because they may be poor, but also other reasons like war. If nothing is done to stop wars there will be more hungry people

Year 7, UK School

Before doing this activity, I thought the only reasons for hunger were because there wasn’t enough food for all the people in the world, nor enough electricity etc to grow the food. I didn’t realise poor farmers couldn’t or weren’t allowed to sell to rich countries like Britain.

Year 13 student, UK School

Key objectives set were:

  • to enable a successful bridge between partner schools that could be repeated in future years;
  • to develop higher-order critical thinking and evaluation skills.

Global Learning Activities in between

 After the initial assessment, students were keen to find the right answer. Teachers helped expand the debate, providing video links, PowerPoint presentations and work sheets. This occupied one week of Personal Social and Health Education and over two weeks of Economics and Business Studies.

BTEC Business Studies students were sorted into small groups to work on a high-to-low ranking list before doing a diamond ranking. They were then asked to propose a potential topic heading (rather than being given one). Most proposed poverty, third world and hunger. They then rearranged the cards into a diamond 9, where they could debate competing items at level 2. A clip on world hunger was then shown, with students still kept guessing as to how this related to business studies. The International Business unit incorporates an element on business ethics, which is what the students had to research next. After two weeks, they were asked to revisit the diamond ranking activity and assess whether their opinions had changed.

Both of our objectives have been met, as the partner schools have engaged in the hunger activity over two years. Having honed these skills, BTEC and A level students (age 16+) were able to link the causes of hunger to other matters in the supply chain, and critically evaluate the consequences of these in essays.

Final audit

 Our final audit focused on Business Studies and Economics students. We used the given recording template, (available on the website) to record our findings:

  • All students were now familiar with four out of the nine reasons illustrated for why people are hungry, namely:
    1. There is not enough food to go round
    2. Food is not shared out fairly
    3. People are too poor to buy food
    4. There are too many people
  • An extra 10% students were additionally aware why farmers don’t use new ways of growing more food. However, most of these were Geography students.
  • No students were familiar with the following reasons:
    1. People in rich countries don’t give enough money to charities
    2. People can’t grow because of wars
    3. Poor farmers are not allowed to sell their food to rich countries
    4. The best land is used to grow food for other countries

 What did we discover?

The activity needed taught data and information, which then influenced students to produce different results. As is evident from some of the student quotes above, some of the factors highlighted showed that the students had to be taught how farmers are limited as to which countries they could sell to. Once students were aware of this, they became better-informed decision-makers which, the second time round, resulted in more considered debate and decisions. Overall, the students were really engaged and asked a lot of questions.

By the end of this process, all students could discuss the nine reasons, and whilst their opinions continued to differ, there was greater awareness of the reasons why people are hungry. Repeating the diamond ranking activity revealed changes in attitudes and intended actions. In both schools, over 50% of participating students changed their ranking of key reasons for hunger.

Way forward

As a result of this activity, it was decided that both partner schools would integrate teaching about the causes and consequences of poverty as a whole-school theme. This is currently being embedded into curriculum areas, assemblies and other areas of school/community life. This is straight forward as it complements the International Business unit of the BTEC National Business Award and was extended to the A Level Unit 4 award on Global Poverty, where the higher order evaluation and critical thinking skills were also used.

The activity was also useful for developing communication and debating skills amongst pupils with low participation in class activities.

What’s the most important thing we learned?

A significant proportion of our students came from homes where, as young children they qualified for free school meals, which means that their homes would be classified in a very low-income bracket. Their parents were mainly migrants, and may have experienced some level of poverty. The activity reminded them of the existence of both local and global poverty, and created a can-do-something approach towards making a difference, as they took the message back home to parents.

Were there any surprises?

Despite the majority of students witnessing poverty in Delhi, or coming from countries associated with poverty, new prosperity in those countries pushed concern about poverty into the background, where it has become invisible. This activity reminded students about a continued growing world divide between rich and poor.

What would we do differently next time?

Next time we would repeat the activity at the end as a final assessment, but keep the students in the same groups.

We may extend evaluation forms to include parents, so students can extend their learning and debate some of the issues at home. To further enhance the activity, the two partner schools have agreed to hold a video conference between students from each others’ schools, which will enable both sets of students to learn about local poverty and hunger in the UK and India.

 

 

Why are people hungry?

Posted by Piia Pelimanni

What do I want to find out?

What pupils know and think about the causes and consequences of hunger around the world and what can be done about it.

What do I need?

  • Nine opaque pots with lids, each with a hole big enough for a bean to pass through.
  • A bowl of beans.
  • A sheet to record the number of beans placed in each pot.
  • Nine cards showing possible reasons why people may be hungry. Choose from the following cards or create your own. You may prefer to use the terminology Majority World/poor countries, or Minority World/rich countries.
 

There are too many people

 People can’t grow enough food because of wars
 

People in rich countries don’t give enough in aid or charity

  

The international trading system is unfair to poor countries
 

Food grown on the best farmland in poor countries is sold to rich countries

  

Climate change means floods or drought in poor countries
 

Corruption and bad government in poor countries

  

People are too poor to buy enough food
 

People in poor countries are not paid enough for what they grow

  

People in rich countries want to pay less for the things they buy, so wages in poor countries stay low
 

Many big companies don’t pay the taxes they should in poor countries

  

Farmers in poor countries don’t use new ways of growing more food
 

None of these

  

I don’t know

What do I do?

Timing: 10 minutes

  • Arrange the nine cards beside the nine pots.
  • With the pupils in groups, give each of them three beans to vote for their preferred answers. Ask them why they think people are hungry.
  • Explain they can vote for three different reasons, putting one bean in each of three pots, or two and one, or put all three beans in one pot.
  • Read each label out and clarify what it means, this allows pupils time to consider how they want to vote.
  • When they have each decided pupils should vote, putting their beans into the pots at the same time, to minimise influencing each other.
  • Pupils count the beans in each pot and record the numbers.
  • Keep a record of the scores and any explanations or comments.

How do I analyse the results?

  • Collate the results: add up the scores from the whole class and work out the percentage of votes for each reason.
  • Consider the explanations and comments. Is there a prevailing view?
  • To what extent are overpopulation, poverty and fall in charitable giving blamed as causes of hunger?
  • Is it assumed that hunger only exists in the Majority World? Is hunger in the UK and Europe viewed differently from hunger in Africa for example?

How do I measure the change?

  • When you repeat the activity in exactly the same way at least a year later, pupils can compare the two sets of responses, look for change and think about what influenced that change.
  • Look for a decrease in responses blaming overpopulation, corruption and lack of aid.
  • Look for a corresponding increased awareness of interdependence e.g. the extent to which we depend on imported food and eat food grown in countries in the Majority World where people are malnourished.
  • To what extent do pupils show an understanding of the barriers to international trade in food, and appreciate that some Minority World countries subsidise their food exports, which makes it harder for Majority World countries to compete.

 

Why are people poor?

Posted by Piia Pelimanni

What do I want to find out?
Pupils’ attitudes towards poverty, its causes and consequences, and whether it is inevitable.

What do I need? 

  • Seven opaque pots with lids, each with a hole big enough for a bean to pass through.
  • A bowl of beans.
  • A sheet to record the number of beans placed in each pot.
  • The seven labels below, stating possible reasons for poverty.
not very clever unlucky

 
 

not fair

  

don’t know
 

it’s just like that

  

none of these
 

 

 lazy

These labels are based on terms used in the British and European Social Attitudes Surveys, but have been adapted for age suitability where necessary:

ignorance = not very clever

injustice = not fair

inevitable = it’s just like that

You might choose to use the original terms for older pupils.

What do I do?

Timing: 10 minutes

  • Arrange the seven cards beside the seven pots.
  • With the pupils in groups, give each of them three beans to vote for their preferred answers. Ask them why they think people are poor.
  • Explain they can vote for three different reasons, putting one bean in each of three pots, or two and one, or put all three beans in one pot.
  • Read each label out and clarify what it means, this allows pupils time to consider how they want to vote.
  • When they have each decided pupils should vote, putting their beans into the pots at the same time, to minimise influencing each other.
  • Pupils count the beans in each pot and recorded the numbers.
  • Keep a record of the scores and any explanations or comments.
  • The most popular responses are identified and comments noted e.g. what do we mean by not fair? If there are votes for ‘None of these’ ask what alternative answers could have been available.
    Explore how pupils’ responses compare to those from the adult national survey, and think about why there are similarities or differences.

How do I analyse the results?

  • Collate the results: add up the scores from the whole class and work out the percentage of votes for each reason. Does a pattern emerge?
  • Consider the explanations and comments, is there a prevailing view?
  • Do words and phrases currently used in the media appear? (e.g. skivers, scroungers).
  • Is it assumed that poverty only exists in the Majority World? Or is poverty in the UK and Europe viewed differently from poverty in Africa for example.
  • Are there deserving and undeserving poor?

 

140 Fair Unfair

During the teaching that follows, discuss with pupils the appropriate responses to poverty – is it the responsibility of governments, faith groups or charities to take action against poverty? Do we as individuals or school communities have a role in causing or contributing to poverty, through low wages or climate change?

How do I measure the change?

  • When you repeat the activity, at least a year later, pupils can compare the two sets of responses, look for change and think about what brought about that change.
  • Look for an increasing awareness of what we can do to make a difference in preventing and responding to poverty e.g. through food banks, Fair Trade, reducing carbon emissions, lobbying and campaigning.
  • Look for evidence of a decrease in the belief that poverty is inevitable, or the fault of the individual, or responses that they don’t know why people are poor.

Thinking about local and global poverty in French lessons

Posted by Liz Allum

Background 

The activity Why are people poor? was trialled with multiple groups of Year 8 pupils (age 12-13) at our large Language Specialism secondary school. The school uses CLIL, a Content and Language Integrated Learning approach, which ensures that languages are taught through other curriculum subjects as well, making the language relevant and relational. CLIL encourages language learning to improve pupils interpersonal skills and cultural understanding.

 

409 pourquoi audit

This suburban Secondary school was doing a piece of work around Fair Trade and were interested to trial activities that would measure pupils understanding of Fair Trade and of wider issues around poverty and taking action. In keeping with their language learning ethos, the activities and the subsequent Fair Trade project were all delivered in French.

Once pupils had responded in French, we allowed them to respond in English as well, to ensure that any limited vocabulary wouldn’t prevent them from fully expressing their attitudes and ideas.

Category Comments
Pas Intelligent

(not clever)

 22 not clever in school – not good grades – not good job – no pay; inheritance – if your mum and dad are rich they’d send you to public school and then you get a well paid job, if not many people go to school they don’t know how to control a business, can’t read or write; not a good education so don’t get a good job – a good job means well paid – you can buy a nice house and nice things to go in it

 
Pas Juste

(not fair)

 53 not fair to live in a country with no political rights,

where they’re born – if it’s a poor country – it’s not their fault; if they’re ill and can’t work; if they have lots of children and it’s hard to pay for all the food,

govt mess up; corrupt govts; no education – no chance – it’s not their fault, the rich have too much money – they should give some to the poor – I think so too, you can have people who are mega-rich, I think the rich should give to the poor; racism; Africa don’t get much money compared to Europe; if there’s not many jobs; jobs go to people with better backgrounds; racism

they grow crops but don’t get enough money for them; sometimes the harvest is destroyed by locusts; no chance to start a business; poor working conditions; parents don’t let you go to school; gender and religion

 
Inevitable

 

 10 it can change if the rich gave to the poor – tax – VAT

 
Pas de chance

(unlucky)

 26 no lottery! Natural disasters – tornadoes; smart but have no chance

people in Africa would die for an education; if you’re born into a slum; bad environment; lost your job or not enough jobs; got robbed

 
Paresseux

(lazy)

 15 not willing to go out and get a job,

Lazy in Europe, unlucky in Africa, they never get up and do things – they can’t be bothered – I watch Jeremy Kyle – they live on benefits; lazy at school, some families can’t be bothered to do things

 
Pas un raison ici

(none of the reasons here)

 24 Greed, too many people want everything for themselves; if their govt is corrupt like in Africa, Injustice everywhere in the world;

Stereotypes – like Essex: stupid, Berkshire: rich, Injustice in Africa, not enough job opportunities,

Not educated enough but not because they don’t want to; it’s too hard to get a job – more in Africa than here, there’s no jobs – only farming – in Africa;

If they spend money on alcohol and drugs; factory owners don’t pay enough; it depends what you use your money on – you might make good choices but just not have enough,

Being mistreated – in Africa working conditions are not as good, they don’t have the same rights; don’t have a stable govt;

They may have made a mistake – something happened – they may be addicted to drugs or alcohol and have lost everything

People just want to rely on benefits
Je ne sais pas

(I don’t know

 5

 

It is clear that pupils have a strong understanding of injustice as a cause of poverty. They cite corruption, unfair political processes, access to education, racism and low prices for crop exports. They also listed many other reasons that weren’t included in the activity, showing a willingness to think beyond the simplistic answers provided for them. Whilst there is obviously some impact on pupils from media stereotypes about benefits claimants in the UK, the responses show compassion and empathy and a broad idea of poverty. It is interesting to note that almost all pupils have assumed that the activity is referring to poverty in Africa, despite the fact that this continent wasn’t mentioned at any time. This may be due to the fact that they knew they were embarking on a project about Fairtrade that would look at products from Africa, but it tells more of the general image of Africa as a place of poverty and little else.

Exploring Fairtrade is a great way to help pupils understand the inequalities in the world trade system as it currently stands, and also to encourage pupils to see connections between their own lives and the lives of others. Making campaign posters, raising awareness and auditing Fair Trade products in the school are all ways that young people can take action without having to spend money, or influence parents’ decisions on products that they buy.

 

Charity or justice?

Posted by Piia Pelimanni

What do I want to find out?

Discover pupils’ attitudes and understanding in relation to charitable activities. Are they able to critically evaluate charitable activities, in which they themselves may have made a significant investment?

What do I need?

  • Six examples of promotional materials for charitable activities used in schools, six of each.
  • Ensure you have a range from across these sorts of categories:
Donating money to a charity of choice Donating new or used items to an overseas charity
Sponsoring a child A letter writing campaign for human rights (for example, Amnesty International)
Donating money for an item that a community needs (for example, ‘give a goat’) A global campaign on the causes of poverty (for example Send My Friend to School
Raise money to reduce carbon emissions (for example to install solar panels in the school) Donating time to a local charity
Raise money for a link community (for example to install water pumps or build a new classroom) A microfinance or microcredit scheme
A global debt campaign A modern day slavery campaign
A social media campaign, gathering ‘likes’ to raise awareness
  • A set of numbered cards from 0 to 10

 

What do I do?

Timing: 30 minutes

  • With pupils in small groups, ask them to rank the appeals on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is the worst charity appeal and 10 is the best charity appeal.
  • Ask them to write down all the reasons that the group give for their choices, even if they don’t all agree with one another.
  • Ask them to keep negotiating until they do reach a consensus.
  • Record the scores and gather up their justifications.

How do I analyse the results?

  • Look at the pupils’ criteria for deciding which is best and which is worst.
  • Note whether they are considering impact on poverty, how engaging or enjoyable the appeal or activity is, or are they considering its educational benefit?
  • Note whether pupils are able and willing to critically evaluate their own engagement with charitable activities. Do they recognise that the charitable activities they engage with may not be the most impactful?
  • It is important to acknowledge that there may be a conflict between pupils’ personal experience of appeals, how much they enjoyed it, how good it made them feel, particularly where they have invested heavily in time and effort, and the extent of benefit to recipients, or the extent to which it challenges or reinforces existing power relationships.
  • Pay particular attention to the extent to which pupils are able to make the link between their own lifestyles eg carbon emissions, and victims of extreme weather events, or buying low cost fast fashion here and harsh working conditions in producer communities.

How do I measure the change?

  • After your teaching intervention, repeat the activity giving the pupils two criteria for considering the charitable appeals. Ask them to re-evaluate them in terms of a) impact on poverty, which will make the most difference to the most people? b) educational benefit, does the activity teach you anything new about the situation you are raising money for?
  • Ask pupils to compare the scores and reflect on any differences. Has an appeal that scored highly before now moved further down, or vice versa?
  • Ask pupils to review the scores and reasons they gave and consider whether they now feel differently about them in the light of your teaching.
  • Look for a change in pupils’ ability to critically evaluate the charitable activities. Are they more able to discuss pros and cons of each, are they aware of wider implications of some charitable appeals, for example religious affiliations of some organisations? Do pupils talk about the impact of the Minority World in causing or perpetuating poverty?
  • Look for a shift of charitable activities that are focussed on social justice, solving the causes of poverty and on global action taking have become more popular as a result of your teaching. Are pupils moving from a sense of pity for others and distance from the problem, to a sense of connection with others and awareness of complicity with the problem, and a stronger awareness of campaigns for justice?
  • Note whether pupils are more likely to join a campaign for justice, and whether they can name any others that are not part of the activity.

Featured image © Copyright Adrian Cable and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Should I Donate?

Posted by Piia Pelimanni

What do I want to find out:

Explore what pupils think about charity locally and globally, and their attitudes towards different approaches to poverty alleviation. Find out whether pupils feel they have a responsibility to participate and to what extent they are able to critically evaluate options for charitable giving. 

What do I need?

  • Four opaque ‘ballot’ boxes labelled local, national, international, not sure.
  • One piece of paper per pupil.

 What do I do?

  • Ask the pupils the following questions: “Which are you more likely to donate to – a local charity, a national charity or international charity, or are you not sure?”
  • Ask the pupils to write their answer on a piece of paper with the reason for their choice and why they did not choose the other options. They should drop it into the appropriate box.

How do I analyse the results?

  • Count the number of votes for each selection.
  • Notice what the balance is between local, national and international. Are pupils more likely to favour local charities?
  • Examine their reasons for their choices, are there stereotyped ideas expressed? Do they have negative or positive feelings about charity?
  • To what extent do pupils feel a responsibility to act to prevent deeper problems or conflict, or to prevent abuses of human rights?
  • In the ‘not sure’ category, look for examples of critical thinking. Are there any comments that ask for more information before making a choice?
  • Note what examples of critical thinking pupils express through their reasons.

How do I measure the change?

Depending on the time between each audit, you can repeat the activity exactly, or use the following alternative activity which explores the same issues.

  • Show pupils contrasting images of charity appeals. Choose your contrast from:

Local (specific to your community) vs global (universal issue),

Minority World vs Majority World,

Social issue (hunger) vs environmental issue (species extinction),

Natural disaster (hurricane) vs human impact disaster (homelessness).

  • Ask pupils to write down five words that the appeals make them think of.
  • Ask pupils which of the pair of contrasting appeals they would choose to donate to and to give reasons to justify their choice.
  • Record their responses and reasons given.
  • Note which arguments the pupils give to support their answers. Both positive and negative attitudes towards collections should be recorded. Are pupils able to justify the extent to which they are willing to donate? Are pupils identifying real barriers to donating, or are they expressing apathy or disengagement?

For example “I would not donate because there is nothing in it for me. I have my own problems.” is not the same as “No, I would not donate because I have no money of my own.” or “No, I would not donate because I don´t want to just be a passive donor. I want to help actively.”

  • Note whether they explain their attitude from a personal perspective (why I can or cannot do certain things), or whether they take a wider perspective (it is necessary to contribute to the solution of other people’s problems by other means than collections)
  • Observe whether pupils show an increased understanding in the relationship between human behaviour and natural disasters, and the interconnectivity between local and global.
  • Look for a shift of pupils´ opinions from giving money as a solution to all problems, towards an awareness of campaigns for social justice and the root causes of poverty.

How do I analyse the results?

Analyse if the pupils think about the collections in a positive way, if they trust them (or consider them to be fraudulent), which beneficiary they relate to the collections most often (sick and disabled people, homeless people, help to disaster areas, victims of war).

Where pupils discuss the arguments in favour or against these charity collections, it is important to analyse the justifications from these perspectives:

  • Activity of the pupil (degree of proactivity in dealing with their own problems and the problems at local and global levels)
  • they explain their attitude from a personal perspective (why I can or cannot do certain things, why I can or cannot contribute to the solution)

They take a wider perspective (it is necessary to contribute to the solution of other people problems by other means than collections, for example these pupils will realise that there is a relationship between their behaviour and the climate change that results in devastating floods or what should the state provide out of taxation and what should be the voluntary contribution of concerned individuals?).

 

 

Can you do anything about it?

Posted by Piia Pelimanni

What do I want to find out?

Find out about pupils´ attitudes towards participation in local and global issues, and about their willingness to take action.

What do I need?

  • A worksheet for each pupil with three local and global scenarios chosen from the selection below (These can be modified to reflect your local context).
  • A recording sheet for the alternative “four corners” activity.

What do I do?

Timing: 10 minutes

  • Give each pupil a copy of the worksheet
  • Ask them to mark one option on the scale showing how they could affect each problem.
  • Ask them to justify their choice.
  • Collect the worksheets.

Scenarios

In your school they are about to close down all food facilities (dining room, canteen) for financial reasons. Can you do anything about it?

In your neighbourhood they want to open a casino. Can you do anything about it?

In your neighbourhood they want to replace the existing park with a multi-storey car park. Can you do anything about it?

Fly tipping is taking place on the outskirts of your town. Can you do anything about it?

The producer of your favourite clothing brand uses child labour. Can you do anything about it?

In rural areas of Afghanistan there are not enough primary schools for girls. Can you do something about it?

In the media you read about an unlawful arrest of a Chinese political activist. Can you do anything about it?

 

Alternative

  • You can read individual statements and ask pupils to stand in one of the corners of the class which will represent the four options in the worksheet.
  • After selecting the corner ask them to give reasons for their decision. You may also allow them to change positions based on the discussions and track those changes. This alternative is more interactive but also more difficult to record the results and opinions of students.

How do I analyse the results?

  • Evaluation can be done in two ways:
  • Record pupils responses for each statement.
  • Look for an awareness of opportunities for action for each. Are pupils more likely to feel they can influence local situations over global situations? Do they name any global campaigns? You may want to count the options in two clusters: “active” with expected positive impact (first two options) and “passive” with no impact or no idea for taking action.
  • Explore the listed reasons for (not) engaging in specific cases and their categorisation. Are they mostly local or global situations?
  • Note whether pupils indentify real barriers to taking action, or whether they feel a sense of apathy or lack knowledge of opportunities.

 How do I measure the change?

  • Repeat the activity using an alternative set of statements based on the same criteria.
  • Look for changes in the number of pupils believing they can actively contribute to the solution of the situation.
  • Notice whether the balance of local to global has shifted. Are pupils more able to see opportunities to make the world a better place?
  • Ask pupils what actions or campaigns they have taken part in over the period of your teaching intervention and record this numbers for future audits. You can continue to measure this over a longer period of time

What do you think about migrants?

Posted by Piia Pelimanni

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

Discovering different viewpoints on migrants through Religious Studies with Secondary school pupils

Posted by Liz Allum

Ours is a small secondary school for pupils age 7 to 13, with predominantly white, affluent children, including international boarding students from France, Spain, Japan, China, Russia and Nigeria. There is a strong international ethos, many bilingual staff and well-established links with France, incorporating elements of the French curriculum, an annual French exchange and regular school trips.

Religious Studies – opportunity for global learning

In Religious Studies, the Year 8 (age 12 to 13) class took part in a short unit of work on immigration. Given the 2014 European and local elections, and the media focus on the success of UKIP (the United Kingdom Independence Party), this topic provided an opportunity for open discussion and the dispelling of myths. It was important to assess the baseline level of understanding and pre-existing attitudes of participating pupils in order to plan work appropriately. Repeating the audit activities later was unfortunately impossible owing to last minute end-of-term arrangements.

The key aims of the short topic were:

  • To broaden the knowledge and understanding of key terms linked to immigration, and develop pupils’ ability to evaluate sources of information critically.
  • To provide the opportunity to discuss openly and evaluate different viewpoints and possibly to adjust own attitudes in the light of new information.

 

Audit activity 1: Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes

Working individually to avoid potential copying of others’ views, pupils were asked to finish a series of sentences by suggesting appropriate words to describe the most likely feelings experienced. They were also asked to explain the reasons for the feeling given. This activity was designed to establish how well pupils could identify with people in given situations, before introducing the topic of immigration. Thus the word immigrant was deliberately avoided. Here are the sentences they were asked to finish:

   If someone had to move house they might feel… …because …..

   If someone had just arrived in a new country they might feel… because …..

   If someone did not speak the main language in their new country they might feel… because …..

   If someone had to live in a different country from the rest of their family they might feel… because….

   If someone tried to enter a country illegally they might feel… because …..

Overall there were some very sensitive and mature responses, showing a high degree of empathy and compassion towards people in the situations described. I had considered providing a word bank for this activity, but the decision not to do so was proved correct, as the pupils proposed numerous terms I had not previously considered; a word bank could however still be useful for less able or younger pupils. The pupils gave well-thought-through reasons for their responses, often showing a good level of understanding of the challenges a person moving country might experience.

Overall, a high level of sensitivity was revealed. However, when this was followed up with a task exploring an article about the impact of immigration in Britain, the class gave a different general response, revealing much higher negativity towards immigrants.

With more time, it would have been interesting to explore this dissonance more fully, perhaps through presenting the class with a summary of their findings from the initial activity (e.g. in a Wordle) and explicitly making the comparison with some real groups of people who find themselves in the situations described. It seemed that it was easier to empathise in the abstract with imaginary immigrants, without a given nationality, than with real people with a background story. This was interesting as I had expected that a real story would be more likely to arouse feelings of understanding and compassion.

It would be good to build on the responses about the perceived problems of newly-arrived immigrants who do not have their family around or speak the language, and perhaps discuss what UK citizens could do to make people feel more welcome, ease their settling in and overcome the language barrier.

The final question on illegal immigration lends itself to further work on the reasons why people might be driven to enter a country in this way, and the deeper motivations, such as poverty, inequality and oppression.

 

Audit activity 2: Immigrants, Asylum seekers and Refugees – What do you already know and feel?

Pupils were given a blank sheet with four outlines of figures. They were asked to label the first figure Immigrant and to write inside it anything they associate with that label (e.g. places, feelings, or definitions). If they did not know the meaning of the label they could put a ‘?’ This activity was repeated with the second figure, labelled Asylum seeker, the third, labelled Refugee and finally the fourth, labelled Illegal Immigrant. It was important to give out the labels one at a time so as not influence pupils’ ideas by revealing the theme of the labels and having them make links between the words.

This activity was designed to encourage pupils to reveal their pre-existing knowledge, along with any misconceptions or misunderstandings. The type of words used would reveal their underlying feelings and attitudes towards the named groups of people.

By repeating the activity at the end of the unit of work, it would be possible to make comparisons between the terms used, the level of accuracy in definitions given and the level of empathy and compassion shown. This would also highlight any awareness of multiple viewpoints.

Graphics using Tagxedo were created to show the most common responses to the following words:  asylum seeker, illegal immigrant, immigrant and refugee.

 

Overview of findings

The results revealed that the word immigrant (when viewed alone) was seen as synonymous with illegal immigrant by many, and the term asylum seeker was unfamiliar to most pupils. Refugee was a better understood term. The exercise was interesting and useful for encouraging pupils to reveal their starting point in a non-threatening exercise. They were not inhibited at putting forward ideas that might have been incorrect, as they were told it did not matter if the words were right or wrong and that they were not being judged on any responses they gave. I would definitely repeat this activity, and could use it again with other topics to reveal preconceptions/misconceptions that might need to be addressed.

What could be done to follow up?

There was a clear need for work to address precise definitions of the terms refugee, asylum seeker, immigrant and illegal immigrant. Equally, a range of negative attitudes had been expressed which presented an opportunity for work to develop critical thinking and the ability to look at the issue of immigration from multiple viewpoints. Pupils would thus have the chance to justify and/or modify their viewpoints.

 

Where do the world’s refugees go?

Posted by Liz Allum

What do I want to find out?

Pupils’ knowledge and understanding about the inequalities in the global distribution of population, wealth and refugees, and their attitudes to these inequalities. Explore awareness of bias in the media and pupils’ critical thinking skills.

What do I need?

  • A set of 20 small cards or pieces of paper for each group (the size of a credit card). These cards represent the world’s wealth, population and refugees. Each represents 5% of the total.
  • A map of the world for each group.
  • An answer sheet for each group to fill in.

What do I do?

Timing: 20 minutes

  • With pupils in small groups, ask them to place the cards on the continents to reflect actual distribution.
  • Ask: If your 20 cards represented the world’s population, where in the world would they be?
  • If your 20 cards represented all the world’s wealth, where in the world would it be?
  • If your 20 cards represented all the refugees in the world, where in the world would they be seeking safety? (as opposed to where the refugees originate from)
  • Ask pupils to explain their reasons for their choices.
  • Record the pupils’ choices and their reasons.

How do I analyse the results?

Compare the pupils responses with the most accurate data possible. These figures are from 2014

Topic Asia Europe North America Africa S & C America and the Caribbean
People 12 2 2 2 2
Wealth 2 6 8 2 2
Refugees 8 4 0 6 2

Note to what extent the pupils’ responses are inaccurate and if they are mostly accurate or inaccurate about certain continents. Do pupils overestimate the population of Africa and underestimate the population of Asia?

Observe to what extent pupils are certain of their responses, and how able they are to justify their choices. Do they have well formed and researched opinions, or are they simply repeating information they’ve heard elsewhere. Check for stereotyped responses in their answers, or influence from the media.

Record responses to refugees and note any reasons given for inaccuracies.

Note whether pupils acknowledge inequalities in wealth. Do they believe it is inevitable or that change is possible?

How do I measure change?

Even after a relatively short teaching intervention, you can repeat the activity exactly, as long as you have not provided pupils with the correct answers.

Note any increase in accuracy of pupils’ responses. However, it is more important to observe whether they are better able to justify their responses, challenge one another and discuss the related issues.

Show pupils the correct figures for each heading and ask them to focus on which they found most surprising and why.

You can also use the activity What do you think about migrants?  to measure change in similar attitudes, critical thinking and awareness of bias in the media.