Celebrating diversity

The distribution of refugees throughout England means that many people are aware of their presence in their neighbourhood or local school. Although some people know of the benefits refugees can bring, others lack familiarity with people from other cultures and can be distrustful and hostile to their presence.

Refugee children and their families need to feel safe and secure if they are to overcome the many obstacles they face when rebuilding their lives. People in host communities need opportunities to develop understanding of the experiences of refugees, their needs and how refugees can contribute to their communities. Refugees can contribute to all aspects of community life much more effectively, once they feel welcome and supported.

Primary schools play an important role in helping refugee children and their families feel welcome in local communities. By supporting refugee children’s access and enrolment to school and peer support and friendships, they are also helping refugee children and parents contribute to many aspects of community life.

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 places a duty on schools to promote good race relations. The Commission for Racial Equality (.pdf) provides guidance to assist schools in meeting their duties under the Act. By celebrating diversity, and acknowledging the contribution people of all races and cultures make, schools increase the awareness of issues that affect refugees and help tackle racism.

As part of its five-year strategy, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has published its international strategy in a report Putting the World into World-Class Education: An international strategy for education, skills and children’s services (.PDF) . Instilling a ‘strong global dimension into the learning experience of all children and young people’ is seen to contribute to one of the strategy’s key goals.

Schools can use the issue of refugees as one of many relevant topics to explore global interdependence, conflict resolution, diversity, human rights, social justice and institutional and individual responsibilities in many contexts.

Good practice

Curriculum opportunities to value diversity

Develop curriculum work to tackle racism

Teaching resources are available to schools to challenge racism and promote racial harmony. These include

A Safe Place, a video produced by Show Racism the Red Card

Throwing Stones produced by Leicestershire Constabulary is an anti-racist teaching guide for key stages 2 and 3,

Learning for Life produced by Leicestershire Constabulary is a series of CD-ROMs with activities for 5-13 year olds developed by Grampian Police.

Persona Dolls

Persona Dolls provide a non-threatening and enjoyable way to raise equality issues and counter stereotypical and discriminatory thinking with early years practitioners and young children. The dolls have their own personalities, families and cultural backgrounds, and likes and dislikes. Children quickly bond and identify with the dolls and see them as small friends; they are happy and sad for them, and talk about their problems. Persona Doll Training is designed to provide hands-on experience in using the dolls, raise awareness and offer opportunities for reflection and discussion of issues including racism, gender, disability, health, culture, religious and other equality issues.

To see Persona Dolls in action please see the Persona Dolls short film extracts.

Combating Discrimination: Persona Dolls in Action, published by Trentham Books, and The Little Book of Persona Dolls published by Featherstone Education are guides to how Persona Dolls can be used successfully.

Involve local community organisations and parents

Parents and local community organisations can help organise activities or special events to celebrate festivals. School activities can be enriched by the participation of a broad section of the community, including ethnic minority and refugee groups. The promoting the participation of refugee parents area of this website provides guidance on this.

Consult children and parents when planning events

Consultation can ensure that activities support and promote positive relationships. The involvement of groups of minority ethnic children and parents helps make sure the school is appropriately sensitive to all aspects of their culture and situation. The promoting children’s participation area of this website provides guidance on this.

Provide opportunities to learn about refugees

Curriculum activities as well as displays can help children learn about global issues and refugees. Bear in mind that there is a great diversity in the experiences of different groups of refugees. Take care not to imply that the particular experiences described by one group are true for all groups. Westminster EAZ has published ‘A Welcome Experience: a PSHE and Citizenship Programme of Work for key stages 1 and 2.

Refugees: A resource book for primary schools This Refugee Council publication contains activities, personal testimonies and background information for 5-11 year olds and supports teachers wishing to cover refugee issues as part of English, history, geography, religious education and other subjects.

Be sensitive to the presence of refugee children in school

Teachers need to make professional judgements about how to address the topic of refugees in light of the circumstances of the school and current local issues. Asking refugee children to share their experiences can be effective in promoting understanding and empathy from peers and has the potential to enhance the self-esteem and confidence of the speaker whose story is listened to and understood. It is essential that great care be taken to ensure children don't feel threatened, or 'labelled' as the person who is always being asked to tell ‘their story’. Being singled out in this way can be discomforting for some.

Enable all pupils to discuss issues safely

It is important to create a supportive environment so that all children can discuss issues safely, and where each child’s identity is valued. Codes of conduct and respect for pupils’ culture and experiences need to be taught explicitly. Collaborative strategies can be used to promote understanding and build trust. For example learning activities can use drama to create a safe space for children so that genuinely held positions on refugees can be expressed. This can increase children’s empathy and understanding.

Celebrate Refugee Week

Refugee Week is a nation-wide programme of events that promotes understanding about refugees. It usually takes place in June each year. Refugee Week is an excellent opportunity for schools to celebrate cultural diversity and promote positive images of refugees. Schools can organise curriculum activities and assemblies. A wide range of artists, theatre groups and writers collaborate with schools across the UK to celebrate the event.

Refugee Week website provides advice on organising activities, with free educational resources available for download.

Share success stories

Nominate refugee children for awards that recognise their contribution to their schools or local communities. Local media are often very interested in running positive stories about refugees.

Community Newswire a Press Association (PA) and Media Trust initiative funded by the Home Office helps community and voluntary groups that currently have little contact with the media, to make their voices heard.

Let’s Talk to the Media, produced by the Refugee Media Group in Wales, is a practical guide for refugee community organisations and other practitioners on working with the media.

Tackle racist behaviour

Don’t Suffer in Silence This Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) website provides guidance and a range of resources to help children; teachers and parents tackle bullying, including anti-refugee racism.

Racist Incidents Schools Reporting and Monitoring Procedures Leicester City Council guidance includes :

• A six-point response to an alleged racist incident.
• Monitoring patterns of racist incidents
• The importance of identifying victims’ support needs
• Dealing with incidents
• A list of national agencies and organisations that offer advice and information.

Case Studies

‘Journeys’: a Refugee Week competition for schools (.PDF)

The South of England Refugee and Asylum Seeker Consortium (SERASC) worked in partnership with several LEAs to promote Refugee week in 2004 through a competition for children and young people on the theme of journeys. The case study describes how the project provided opportunities to learn about refugees, and develop greater empathy and awareness.

Tackling myths about refugees through school workshops (.PDF)

Bradford Action for Refugees (BAfR) organised workshops with local primary schools, to enable children to learn more about refugees, and develop positive attitudes and behaviour. The case study explores how myths and misconceptions about refugees can be addressed successfully.

Moving Here: promoting positive images of refugees (.PDF)

The East of England Regional Assembly and LEAs in Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire, worked together on a Home Office funded project to improve the knowledge and awareness of refugees amongst children in key stage 2. The case study describes how a school in Ipswich worked with a theatre company and local refugees to produce a DVD and educational resource pack. The project received a Five Star Rating and was awarded Beacon Status from the Home Office Challenge Fund evaluation in November 2005.

See the Moving Here short film extracts.

Learning about refugees through an international curriculum (.PDF)

Backwell Church of England Junior School, in North Somerset, have created opportunities to learn about refugees through their commitment to develop a genuinely international curriculum.

Professionals working with refugees can find themselves responding to requests from settings that have no refugees, as this case study demonstrates. Involving refugees themselves in work with the setting can have a positive impact on their capacity to contribute to the wider community. In so doing, they can influence those they meet to have a greater willingness to work with refugees. It can also provide opportunities for refugees to achieve more through networking and interacting with a wider range of contacts.

Celebrating Refugee Week at Star Primary School (.PDF)

Star Primary School, in East London includes children from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds most of whom are at the early stages of learning English. Every year the school celebrates Refugee Week in a variety of ways. This case study describes some of the activities and events that have taken place and the benefits to the children, school and community.

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