This session is part of a series of six ITE sessions that can be delivered to increase students' knowledge about key issues and effective practice for teaching refugee and asylum seeker children and young people in primary and secondary schools. These sessions help student teachers plan for the diverse needs of all pupils, support their educational achievement and promote race equality, well-being and community cohesion.
The six ITE sessions are:
Making refugee issues part of the core curriculum
Teaching and learning about refugees: promoting community cohesion through the citizenship curriculum
Promoting the wellbeing of refugee and asylum seeker children and young people
Refugee and asylum seeker children and young people are a diverse group. Although they come from a wide range of different national, ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, they have all arrived in the UK to seek safety from persecution.
This session aims to develop students' understanding of the reasons why young people have left their homelands, their needs on arriving in the UK as well as key terminology. The use of film clips provides an opportunity to hear directly from young people.
The session looks at how refugee children and young people have diverse experiences: in their home countries, during their journeys to safety and also in the country of exile. These experiences can impact on their progress and well-being, and need to be understood by schools so barriers to learning can be addressed.
Finally the session considers the importance of school for refugee children and how it can provide stability, a daily routine and opportunities for friendships.
Bill Bolloten and Tim Spafford
www.refugeeeducation.co.uk