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
To end all wars?
This INSPIRE project plan is for a 30-minute introduction to World War I Remembrance. It can be used as an assembly or at the beginning of a poppy-making workshop. You could use it during Remembrance or, better yet, for thinking about peacemaking in your school. It also contains a challenge: what will you do to make peace in the next 100 years?
The content can be used with ages 9 and above. The follow-up poppy-making activity is for all ages.
2020 NOTE: The Collateral Damage Project is now over but, people are doing window displays of white poppies and posting online
Aims:**
**
to explore the history of war from World War I to the present day
to inspire action to prevent war and build peace
(extension) to make a poppy as a symbol of Remembrance for peace.
In this lesson, learners consider the impact of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for Palestinians and Israelis. The learning materials provide to ways to approach the question: by looking at international law, and by looking at the lives of Palestinians and Israelis through case studies.
This lesson is 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 with online learning
As the Treaty on the Prohibtion of Nuclear Weapons comes into effect (22 January 2021). The resources are being released free online to aid with online learning.
In this lesson, learners will explore what weapons have been banned from war, why, when and how. It could be a great spring board for moral and global citizenship discussions and links well with British Values, particularly Democracy and the Rule of Law. Learners will also practise their skills in debate and writing to argue, exploring whether Britain should follow the TPNW.
This primary school Assembly from the Teach Peace tells the remarkable story of the Christmas Truce in World War I and encourages children to think about reaching out in friendship across divides.
These resources are a sample from a larger pack Quakers in Britain and EAPPI UK & Ireland exploring human rights and peacebuilding among Palestinians and Israelis.
Learners compare a range of boycotts from history including Irish resistance to colonial landlords, the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses and the boycott of apartheid South Africa. They will explore what makes a boycott just or unjust as a tool of social change.
Using this insight, learners can then examine the modern “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” movement aimed at changing Israel’s human rights policies. Learners will evaluate whether the movement is just and nonviolent, or racist and antisemitic as some have argued.
Ukraine and Russia are at war and a humanitarian crisis continues. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to answer the question, will you fight?
In this lesson, learners will use perspective-taking to grapple with the ethical challenges faced by Ukrainians and Russians sent to war whether they wanted it or not. They will gain knowledge of the chronology of the conflict, international law and practise empathy and critical thinking.
Learners will get to grips with the concept of nonviolence by looking at the choices and actions of Israelis and Palestinians in conflict.
This lesson is 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 with online learning. Order the full pack from the Quaker bookshop.
Lesson 1 of 6 sample lessons from the Razor Wire & Olive Branches pack.
This lesson uses map activities, sorting exercises and engaging visuals to introduce students to Palestine & Israel and some of the identities of the people who live there.
This lesson starts with building up basic knowledge:
Where are Palestine and Israel?
What are they like?
Who lives there?
But even these simple questions can be deceptively simple, so learners will begin to explore the complexity of identity. We have also provided resources to assist in challenging Islamophobia and antisemitism as you embark on the topic. There will be more sample lessons to follow.
"The Razor Wire and Olive Branch workshop really widened my knowledge on the current issues taking place in Israel and Palestine. " | Abigail, Year 9
This lesson is based on the larger Razor Wire & Olive Branches learning pack (2019), produced by EAPPI.
“EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel) brought a complicated international issue into the classroom in a way that made it entirely accessible to our young people.” | Alice Harlan, Year 11 lead
The pack draws on the stories and the wealth of eyewitness experience from the human rights monitors of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine & Israel (EAPPI). The resources are being released online to aid with online learning. Order the full pack from the Quaker bookshop.
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.
This lesson is produced by Quakers in Britain. It is a collaboration with Potent Whisper, a London based rapper and Spoken Word artist, and Child Rights International Network.
The lesson introduces the new piece, The Rhyming Guide to Joining the Army! and give students the opportunity to respond to it as unseen poetry to support their English Literature study. The poem also raises important citizenship questions about under 18 recruitment to the armed forces and the way it is promoted to young people.
We’re also really grateful Woodcraft Folk for previewing the video with us and providing an exemplar discussion, blending citizenship and literature in the video discussion provided.
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.
**Lesson 3 of 6 sample lessons from the Razor Wire & Olive Branches pack.
The history of conflict in what today is Palestine and Israel is a complicated, but in this lesson helps students can get to grips with it. The main resource here is a timeline, but there are lots of ways for students to engage with it.
The activities can help to learn the chronology of key events, but also start to evaluate their significance. More than that, it is a chance to reflect on how identity informs the way we see history. What are our parallel narratives?
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 best thing we’ve ever done together as a school community”
Moya Richardson, Associate Head Teacher, Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School
This whole-school resource pack contains everything staff and pupils need to explore how they can build a peaceful world. You can then develop the attitudes, values and skills needed to create it. Your Peace Week can be run at any time. It can be an exciting way to start a new term, or a positive way to celebrate the end of the school year.
Includes:
*curriculum linked content for Scotland, Wales and England
tools to help you organise
lesson plans
resources
staff training materials
Peace Week was created by the Quaker Peace Education Programme with help from schools.
Using critical thinking, Maths and Citizenship skills, learners will explore a simple question: how should the government spend its money to work towards a safer world?
The British government spends roughly £45 billion on defence, but groups like the International Peace Bureau question whether this really makes the world safer. Your class will vote on the best way to spend the money.
Includes Worksheets.
A short assembly is also available to download.
In this assembly, students will explore 4 different ways the world could be made safer and vote on the best way.
With $1.7 trillion spent on the militaries of the world, the International Peace Bureau and many other organisations question whether we would be safer by spending the money on other things.
Everyone in the assembly will get a chance to vote on how to spend the £45 billion which currently makes up the United Kingdom Defence Budget.
A full lesson plan involving more maths and debate is also available.
This Assembly tells the true story of a nonviolent campaign in Kenya to save Mama Zepreta’s house. Hearing or acting out the story, pupils will learn how people can challenge power and injustice without being violent.
Aim: to explore positive ways of challenging injustice through nonviolent means.
Part of the Teach Peace primary pack