Quakers in Britain develop resources to support children and young people to develop the skills and understanding we all need to be peacemakers, whether in our own lives or in the wider world. Linking to the curricula of England, Scotland and Wales these lessons and resources combine fun with critical thinking about issues of peace and justice. Produced by Quaker Peace & Social Witness
Quakers in Britain develop resources to support children and young people to develop the skills and understanding we all need to be peacemakers, whether in our own lives or in the wider world. Linking to the curricula of England, Scotland and Wales these lessons and resources combine fun with critical thinking about issues of peace and justice. Produced by Quaker Peace & Social Witness
Lesson 2 of 6 sample lessons from the Razor Wire & Olive Branches pack.
This lesson uses role play and historic sources to explore Britain’s role in Palestine and what would become modern Israel during World War I.
Students will practise their negotiation skills and explore power dynamics through in group work, before looking at this and place this experience in the context of Britain’s historic role as a colonial power in the Middle East. To make it simple, the initial negotiation is about whether and how to share an orange, which represents the land. The lesson then unpacks how the real diplomacy worked out during World War I and after, with Britain giving separate assurances to Arab leaders in Palestine, Jewish leaders and the French government.
If you haven’t tried Lesson 1, which introduces the geography of Palestine and Israel, it’s available in our TES store.
In this lesson, learners will explore and evaluate different peacemaking efforts at the government level and by Palestinians and Israelis at the grassroots.
The lesson takes a close look at the history of the Oslo peace process, but also at bottom-up peacebuilders from Palestine & Israel.
This is lesson 6/6 based on the Razor Wire & Olive Branches learning pack (2019), produced by EAPPI UK & Ireland and Quakers in Britain. The resources are being released to aid online learning. Order the full pack from the Quaker bookshop.
(This is a lockdown lesson)
15 April 2020 marked the 7th anniversary of the liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp by British forces.
This lesson uses Chinua Achebe’s famous poem “Vultures”, which refers to Belsen, to explore both language and the disturbing themes it brings out.
The lesson explores language, imagery, story and juxtaposition.
We also partnered with the Holocaust Memorial Foundation to provide a creative outlet, where young people can decorate their own stone as a contribution to the Holocaust Memorial to be built in London.
See the lesson as tweeted here.
Aim: Learn about the different factors that cause insecurity and how we could make the world safer.
Learners will draw on numeracy, speaking and listening and critical thinking skills to explore this citizenship question: do we need to rethink security?
Beginning by exploring the idea of security- what makes us safer and what makes us feel safe? Learners will progress by evaluating and quantifying risks that face us today including knife crime, spiders and climate change, before asking what the priorities should be.
All the content and notes are included in the slide show.
Part of the Rethinking Security project .
This is a creative way to tackle controversial questions surrounding Remembrance, the armed forces, war and militarism.
This attractive poster and the accompanying activities elicit debate and discussion about the reality and ethics of military involvement in British society. Armed Forces Day is a particularly relevant time to open up this discussion in your Citizenship, PSHE lessons and meet your SMSC requirements. It also lends itself to Philosophy for Children sessions at primary or secondary.
Everything shown is ‘real’ - something that does happen on the streets of Britain.
We’ve provided the resource as a PDF, an image and a clickable webpage (meaning you can click on individual parts of the image and see a related video, report or news story; students could explore this individually or be led through it on an a whiteboard.
You can order printed hard copies (free, just pay postage) from the quaker bookshop.
We’ve also suggested a range of activities to elicit interesting discussion in the attached document.
The pamphlet explains offers guidance to school leaders and communities about how to respond to militart engagementent while guarding educational impartiality, student safety and children’s rights.
It will connect you with to help introduce a range of perspectives, as well as the obligation to promote peace, tolerance and nonviolence (UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 29). Paper copies will be available in English and Welsh. Let us know if you’d like physical copies, contact peaceedu (at) quaker.org.uk.
The theme:
This lesson asks a simple question: should we make polluters pay? In exploring this global citizenship question, students will encounter a wealth of cross-curricular learning experiences and outcomes with learning for sustainability at the heart.
Teachers can curate a lesson by choosing from 24 activities covering numeracy, literacy, speaking and listening, creative expression, science, geography, critical thinking, mapped onto the curricula of England and Scotland and Wales.
Learners will encounter concepts including the polluter pays principle established at the Rio Earth Summit in 1990 and the loss and damage fund established at COP27, and use images and data to understand how these ideas apply around the world.
Structure:
The activites are structured in four sections:
Introductory stimulus | by encountering the Make Polluters Pay exhibition and forming personal responses, students begin to consider the themes of the lesson.
Teacher explanation | a series of explanatory activities helps students formulate enquiries and understand the background issues such as climate change, loss and damage and the “polluter pays” principle.
Developing understanding | a menu of activities help learners consolidate and deepen their understanding of the difference in responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, evaluating who should pay.
Conclusion and expression | students use their own judgement and creativity to express their views on a fair way to help people facing loss and damage.
Why teach this lesson?
In 2022, governments across the world agreed to establish a loss and damage fund to compensate those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. The term “loss and damage” describes the irreversible harm climate change is causing to people and communities. To this day the loss and damage fund remains significantly underfunded; this is why campaigners are on the streets chanting “make polluters pay”.
Campaigners are calling for the fund to be filled with money from those that caused the climate crisis. Based on the “polluter pays principle”, the idea is to tax polluting companies, utilise this revenue to fill the fund and help those facing climate catastrophe.
These lesson materials are based on an exhibition that has toured the UK and has helped people understand and engage with the issue of loss and damage. This exhibition uses examples from around the world to illustrate communities facing painful loss and damage alongside exemplifying voices that have inspired hope and lead to positive change in the face of the climate crisis.
This lesson will enable cross-curricular learning of sustainability , unpacking the polluter pays principle which signifies an opportunity of hope and justice during difficult and uncertain times, discussing and evaluating the polluter pays principle can provide a starting point in helping to tackle climate anxiety among students.