In the United Kingdom, the union gives voice to refugees
The National Education Union (NEU) has released a series of resources to support schools welcoming refugee children.
A series of inspiring short film clips in which refugee children and young people talk about their experiences of coming to a school in the UK has been made available on NEU’s website, together with Staff training notes for use with the clips.
Each video clip focuses on a different aspect of newly arrived students’ integration in school and are classified in three categories:
- being included: “Stand by their side”; “Everyone says "Salaam" even the teachers”; “Let your feelings out”;
- entering the UK Education system: “A trusted pupil showed me around”; “Everything is possible”;
- being a refugee pupil: “I really like learning”; “Just stay strong”.
The training notes are meant to give education staff the opportunity to think about existing good practice in their school/setting/ college and to consider collectively ways in which their school/setting/college can effectively welcome refugee children and young people. A refugee quiz was also created as a warm up activity of these training sessions.
The NEU “ Welcoming Refugee Children to Your School” guide also provides information about ways in which schools can create a refugee-friendly environment, make an accessible curriculum and think about some principles of effective practice.
For the first time this year for the special 20th anniversary edition, the union has partnered with the Refugee Week and all these resources were presented on the occasion of the Refugee Week Conference that was held last month.
