Key Stage 2/3geography, PSE and numeracy resource: Refugees in 2016

Activity summary / Global learning opportunities / Curriculum links
This activity explores some of the background to the 2015 refugee crisis. A wealth of educational and other resources is available to support investigations into the experience, numbers and movements of refugees: a few are suggested below.
  • To get started you might use one of several Bitesize or Newsround clips or features on the background of the crisis and refugees’ stories
  • The British Red CrossSyrian refugee choices lesson in geography or PSE focuses on living in a refugee camp; it may also be the basis for an assembly.
  • Alternatively, the British Council short activity No Place Like Home focuses on the experience of displacement. The Living Together – Refugee Education Pack contains more in-depth activities on this theme suitable for older pupils.
  • It is useful to develop an understanding of the geography of this migration, perhaps investigating graphics from the BBC or data from UNHCR to draw maps or graphics of refugee nationalities, movements and countries of refuge. You might use maps or other sources concerning world conflicts to investigate some of the reasons for these patterns. Base maps are available from sources like worldmap.com
/ GLP-W themes and outcomes:
  • Interdependence
  • Enquiry and critical thinking.
ESDGC themes
  • Wealth and poverty
  • Identity and culture
  • Choices and decisions.
Global Goals:
  • SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
  • SDG 17: Partnership for the goals.
/ PSE
Skills:Developing thinking
•identify links between cause and effect
•distinguish between facts, beliefs and opinions; form personal opinions and make informed decisions.
•identify & assess bias and reliability (Key Stage 3)
Developing communication
•listen carefully, question and respond to others
•express their views and ideas confidently through a range of appropriate methods
•contribute to class discussions and take part in debates.
Range:
Learners should be given opportunities:
•to develop a positive attitude on issues of poverty and fairness
and to understand:
  • how injustice and inequality affect people’s lives
  • that local actions can have global effects because of connections between places and people.
/ Geography
Skills:
  • locate places using globes, atlases and maps, and use maps, imagery and ICT to find and present locational information
  • identify and describe the pattern of places and environments and how they are connected
  • explain human processes and how they interact, and how and why places and environments change
  • organise/analyse and evaluate ideas and evidence
  • communicate findings in a variety of ways.
Range:
  • Living in my world: the importance of being a global citizen (Key Stage 2)
  • People and the planet: population patterns, change and movement (Key Stage 3)
Carry out:
  • Investigations of topical events and issues in the wider world.

Development You could:
  • Develop work in geography and numeracy to investigate in more detail the numbers and countries involved in the Syrian migration; you might:
  • Use the summary facts and figuresbelow to discuss the big picture, perhaps using critical thinking to identify questions to investigate
  • watch videos from Gapminder or AFP, which demonstrate different approaches to mapping data, before asking pupils to select and draw graphics to show the distribution of refugees and asylum seekers on outline maps, e.g. using located bars, proportional circles or flow lines
  • you might investigate proportion and ratio, for example the proportion of refugees globally compared with the world population, Syrian refugees compared with local populations in different host countries, and perhaps apply the idea of proportion to children’s class or school size.
  • Use the GA site for up to date data, more activity ideas and many useful links, including free online CPDon migration
  • In PSEor English consider different media reports and compare with other ‘official’ information sources, perhaps comparing the language used. This BBC resource may be helpful. You might use Critical Thinking skills to reason and think about evidence; for example investigating sources to test arguments about how to manage the flow of refugees, or investigating attitudes amongst their peers/community. The Global Dimensions website also includes a range of up to date resources and activities aimed at pupils’ active engagement.
  • In history use theRefugee Week information resource or IB Times photo timeline to investigate the recent history of refugees in the UK, perhaps constructing a timeline-style column graph or adding data to a map of Europe, identifying the causes of the refugee movements and their contributions to the UK.
  • Consider what it means to be a refugee from a human rights perspective, for example using Amnesty’s bilingual resource They Came Because They Had To.
  • Investigate why Cardiff and Swansea are Cities of Sanctuary, and what that means for refugees.
  • Use the Global Dimension‘Refugees welcome?’site to develop further work based on its many useful links (some used in this resource).
  • Use one of the many educational activity packs to explore migration and refugees in more depth (see below)
General sites:
  • IOMsite has data and graphics including Where We’re From interactive world map of migration.
  • UNHCR site includes background information, country studies, statistics and videos. The maps page includes a country menu, showing numbers of refugees and the location of camps.
  • RedCross facts and figures.

Literacy opportunities
Oracy
Element: Developing and presenting information and ideas
Aspects :
  • Speaking
  • Listening
  • Collaboration and discussion.
Reading
Element: Locating, selecting and using information
Aspect:
  • Reading strategies.
Element: Responding to what has been said
Aspects:
  • Comprehension
  • Response and analysis.
Element: Writing accurately
  • Language.
/ Numeracy opportunities
Strand: Developing numerical reasoning
Element: Represent and communicate
  • select and construct appropriate charts, diagrams and graphs with suitable scales
  • interpret graphs that describe real-life situations, including those used in the media, recognising that some graphs may be misleading.
Strand: Using number skills
Elements:
  • Use number facts and relationships
  • Fractions, decimals, percentages and ratios.
Strand: Using data skills
Elements:
  • Collect and record data
  • Present and analyse data
  • Interpret results.
/ Critical Thinking opportunities
  • explain, reason and think about evidence
  • assess or evaluate information, e.g. distinguish fact and opinion
  • consider different voices and points of view on global issues
  • make links between topics, so learning to think systematically.

Activities and resources for investigating migration and refugees in Welsh and English
From GLP-W:
  • Responding to the crisis in Syria:
Amnesty International:
A Time to Flee (KS3) A lesson developing understanding of why people become asylum seekers and the difficulties they face.
  • Welsh:
  • English:
Christian Aid Assemblies, including Far From Home (KS2) and Forced from Home (KS3)(search: Refugees)
Oxfam:
Schools of Sanctuary – giving a warm welcome (KS3) workshop that helps pupils understand why refugees leave their homes, the challenges they face, their welcome in the UK and in pupils’ own schools.
  • Welsh:
  • English:
Syria – seen and heard (KS3) workshop helping pupils understand the crisis in Syria, and how to make sure Syrian children are seen and heard.
  • Welsh:
  • English:
Syria – a children’s crisis (KS3) includes activities to introduce the Syrian crisis and its impact, particularly on neighbouring countries, together with how young people in the UK can respond.
  • Welsh:
  • English:

Revised for GLP-W November 2016

Refugees worldwide

There were 21.3 million refugees worldwide at the end of 2015, around 4.6 million more than at the end of 2013. / The two countries hosting the largest number of refugees in 2015 were:
Turkey: 2.5 million refugees.
Pakistan: 1.6 million refugees. / There were 65.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide in 2015.
34,000 people a day were forced to flee their homes due to conflict and persecution.
Developing countries host around 85% of the world’s refugees, compared to 70% ten years ago. This is the highest percentage in more than two decades.
Europe hosts 6% of refugees. / The UK received 28,878 asylum applications in 2015. This compares with Germany (431,000), Sweden (163,000) and Hungary (163,000).
In 2015 45 people were granted asylum in the UK. / In 2015 4.9 million refugees came from Syria, up from 1.8 million in 2013. It is thebiggest source country for refugees - Syrians make up nearly a quarter of refugees in the world.
Afghanistan was the second biggest source of refugees, 2.7 million people. 95% live in Pakistan or Iran.
Somalia is third (1.1 million). / There are currently117,234 refugees living in the UK. That's 0.18% of the total population (64.1 million people). / Migrationis increasing in all continents and most countries. Refugees makeup 8% of international migrants.
Sources: UNHCR, Red Cross and OECD
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