P4C is a learning approach which runs throughout the NVAFC lessons. We recommend training before using P4C but here you can find a guide to the ‘10 Steps of P4C’ and concept question plans to support teacher questioning during an enquiry.

This is the fourth in a series of 7 one-hour lessons written by consultant, Lucy Holbrook, which explore the concept of “power” – power over, power to, power with and power within. The aim is to give learners a comprehensive Power Toolkit that includes an understanding of how to use their internal body resources to support that external process of non-violent social change. Please see the supporting document written by Lucy explaining the rationale for the lessons (Resource Sheet 72).

This is the first in a series of 6 one-hour lessons written by consultant, Lucy Holbrook, which explore the concept of “power” – power over, power to, power with and power within. The aim is to give learners a comprehensive Power Toolkit that includes an understanding of how to use their internal body resources to support that external process of non-violent social change. Please see the supporting document written by Lucy explaining the rationale for the lessons (Resource Sheet 72). In this lesson learners are introduced to the four types of power.

This is the third in a series of 6 one-hour lessons written by consultant, Lucy Holbrook, which explore the concept of “power” – power over, power to, power with and power within. The aim is to give learners a comprehensive Power Toolkit that includes an understanding of how to use their internal body resources to support that external process of non-violent social change. Please see the supporting document written by Lucy explaining the rationale for the lessons (Resource Sheet 72). This lesson follows on from “Developing personal power part 1”.

This is the final lesson in a series of 6 one-hour lessons written by consultant, Lucy Holbrook, which explore the concept of “power” – power over, power to, power with and power within. The aim is to give learners a comprehensive Power Toolkit that includes an understanding of how to use their internal body resources to support that external process of non-violent social change. Please see the supporting document written by Lucy explaining the rationale for the lessons (Resource Sheet 72).

This is the second in a series of 6 one-hour lessons written by consultant, Lucy Holbrook, which explore the concept of “power” – power over, power to, power with and power within. The aim is to give learners a comprehensive Power Toolkit that includes an understanding of how to use their internal body resources to support that external process of non-violent social change. Please see the supporting document written by Lucy explaining the rationale for the lessons (Resource Sheet 72). In this lesson learners explore personal power.

This is the fifth in a series of 6 one-hour lessons written by consultant, Lucy Holbrook, which explore the concept of “power” – power over, power to, power with and power within. The aim is to give learners a comprehensive Power Toolkit that includes an understanding of how to use their internal body resources to support that external process of non-violent social change. Please see the supporting document written by Lucy explaining the rationale for the lessons (Resource Sheet 72).

This series of lessons introduces learners to the role that the arts can play in protest using two different case studies as examples. The English Disco Lovers was created by Quaker artist, Chris Alton in 2012 as a counter-English Defence League group aiming to reclaim the EDL acronym. In the Singing Revolution the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia won freedom from the Soviet Union through a series of singing protests including a 600km human chain through the three areas. The lessons include song analysis, drama and art as well as P4C enquiries.

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.

This lesson is an opportunity for learners to apply their learning from the historical case studies to current examples of non-violent movements for change. In order to conduct this lesson teachers will need to do their own research of what might currently be happening locally, nationally and globally and provide links for the learners to support their own research. This lesson provides a bridge to the lessons on ‘Taking Action’ where learners decide whether they would like to take non-violent action about anything that they care about.

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 is the second of four environment-themed case studies (the others are the Chipko Movement in India, Right to Roam in UK and Sheffield Street Trees). This lesson uses the story of Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and the Green Belt Movement in Kenya to explore the concept of influence – who do we influence and who influences us?

Enquiring into Violence and Non-Violence. There are many nuanced definitions of non-violence but most seem to agree that non-violent action is not just about doing anything without using violence. Non-violent action has the aim of undermining violence whether it is physical, structural or institutional. The main part of this lesson is a discussion activity which encourages learners to decide where they would put an action on a spectrum from violent to non-violent. The main part of this lesson is a discussion activity which encourages learners to decide where they would put an action on a spectrum from violent to non-violent. Many of the examples are contentious and the learners need to listen to each other and will potentially change their minds when they hear good reasons. Through this activity the learners will hopefully start to understand some of the complexities around the concepts of violence and non-violence. “Looking at principles of non-violent protest and deciding which ones we like and which we would question (orange for challenge, yellow for agree and annotations) gave the children a chance to critically analyse some complex ideas and to start to think about how their own values affect their reaction.”

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 is one of a series of lessons relating to the environment (the others are the Chipko Movement in India, The Green Belt Movement in Kenya and Sheffield Street Trees). This lesson explores the mass trespass of Kinder Scout in the Peak District, UK in 1932. After considering the idea of ‘trespass’, learners respond to a film about the mass trespass using a question quadrant to generate questions and engage in a philosophical enquiry about one of them.

This is one of four environment-themed case studies (the others are the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, Right to Roam in UK and Sheffield Street Trees). This case study is the story of how women in India in 1974 successfully resisted the cutting down of their forests by hugging the trees and setting up groups to guard them. The lessons explore the concept of ownership, introduce the idea of ‘impact assessment’ and use P4C discussion in and out of role.

This lesson uses relatable, fictional scenarios to enable the learners to think about their own understanding of violent and non-violent actions before engaging with actual historical case studies. Pictures of objects which could be used in non-violent or violent actions are introduced for the learners to think of their own creative uses and consider whether their ideas are violent or non-violent. These objects can be spotted in the subsequent case studies and will be used again in the final lesson to evaluate learning. The activity is designed to be open-ended and creative rather than to directly teach how the objects could be used. “Pupils were highly enthusiastic and engaged in the content.”

This lesson, part of the series of lessons Non-violent Action: A Force for Change, is an opportunity to evaluate learners’ knowledge and understanding of non-violent action by returning to the pictures of objects/actions that were introduced in Lesson 1. Learners should, having experienced the other lessons, now be able to give more creative responses to the pictures. This lesson could come before or after the lesson which looks at contemporary issues.