We have included the Bristol Bus Boycott in this resource as little attention is usually paid in UK schools to the history of anti-racism in the UK itself. Often there is a focus on the US Civil Rights Movement. The Montgomery bus boycotts and Rosa Parks inspired the Bristol Bus Boycott. Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK following the murder of George Floyd in the USA in May 2020 there has been a growing interest in anti-racism and decolonising the curriculum. This series of lessons links well with the case study of English Disco Lovers in the Role of the Arts and to contemporary movements such as Black Lives Matter. These lessons can be used as the first core lessons as an alternative to OTPOR as they also introduce the Pillars of Support and the Non-violent Methods Checklist which are referred to in subsequent lessons. This is a series of four lessons which use the P4C process in an extended way. The first lesson introduces the stimulus of the Bristol Bus Boycott and then uses the Question Quadrant to generate questions about it. These comprehension, general knowledge, speculation and philosophy questions are then explored in subsequent lessons.

These lessons use the case study of The White Rose Movement as an example of how German people resisted Nazism. Following a consideration of the nature of democracy and dictatorship, learners piece together the story of Sophie and Hans Scholl using historical sources (photographs and campaign leaflets) and consider whether they are supporters or critics of Nazism. Learners are asked to consider whether the White Rose Movement could be considered as a success or failure and whether we should focus on individual heroes/heroines in movements for change.

This series of lessons examines the success of non-violent resistance to Nazi occupation in Denmark and the anti-Jewish laws in Germany during World War Two. The lessons use original accounts and documents from the period which are brought to life through drama and other creative activities. Learners take part in Philosophy for Children discussions in role and as themselves. The Pillars of Support are used to identify support for the Nazi regime and how it was undermined.

This lesson is one of two alternative core lessons (the other is Bristol Bus Boycott) to be completed after Lesson 1 and 2. It introduces an important idea of the “Pillars of Support”, which will be referred to in subsequent case study lessons. It uses a mystery activity as a way of engaging the learners with the case study. Groups are given different parts of the OTPOR story and have to piece together what happened by asking the other groups questions. For it to work it is important that that no one knows the whole story at the start of the lesson.

This lesson uses the Salt March and the lesser-known Pashtun Muslim non-violent army (Khudai Khidmatgar) as examples of resistance during the Indian Independence movement. It was felt important to include Gandhi as a well-known figure and central in the history of non-violent protest but also to show that Muslims in India were involved in non-violent resistance led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan. This might challenge the stereotypical views of Islam of some learners. The main approach to learning in this lesson is to use an in-role P4C discussion where learners enquire from the perspectives of different people involved in the struggle for independence.

This lesson was devised and used by the late Mark Hutchinson, a history teacher at High Storrs Secondary in Sheffield. In the lesson, students use photo documentation from the 1980s when Sheffield became the first local authority to pledge that it would end all links with apartheid (see Sheffield and Anti-Apartheid Movement study guide) The main focus of the lesson is on the visit of Marti Caine to the Sheffield Crucible Theatre in 1984 and the protests surrounding this. We are grateful to the AAM Archives Forward to Freedom committee for granting us permission to use some of the images.