KS3 RE, Philosophy and Ethics: Migration Unit

Unit: Migration

This unit is a 6-part ethics-based unit on ‘Migration’, devised as part of a brand new, relevant and engaging scheme of work for KS3 students.

Educating young people about migration is increasingly important in today’s climate, where global conflicts, climate change, economic inequality and political instability continue to displace people worldwide. This lesson, and the wider unit of which it is a part, helps young people understand the complex reasons behind migration, challenge stereotypes and misinformation, and develop empathy towards migrants and refugees.

Lessons include:

• Do people have the right to migrate?
• Are all migrants equal?
• Case Study: Enaia’s Story
• Are other countries responsible for what happens to refugees?
• Do we have a duty to strangers? (Peter Singer)
• Migration to Mars

Lesson 3 includes the exploration of morality through a powerful, dramatic narrative, as part of the Power of Stories series. See my unit on Making Moral Decisions for more information.

The corresponding lesson sheets would also support a home-learned curriculum as the PowerPoints and Packs themselves include scaffolding, where required, and opportunities for the teacher to apply adaptive teaching techniques.

The interleaved schemed of work are specifically designed to promote the two skills desired for success in RE/Ethics and at GCSE:

• AO1 (Knowledge and Understanding)
• AO2 (Analysis and Evaluation)

The resources are specifically created to ensure students are aware of the skill they are demonstrating and how to improve further through modelling.

Lessons include:

• Homework Slide
• Starter activity/‘Do now’ activity
• Lesson overview (lesson objective and the lesson journey)
• Key words (literacy focus)
• Core knowledge
• Analysis / debate task (AO2 - analysis) and finalised judgement (AO2 - evaluation)
• Plenary

Lesson Sheets:
If you would rather work in exercise books, the lesson sheets are designed so that you can print off relevant pages - it is a resource pack. This would be useful if you have appropriate curriculum time to cover the content of the course. Unfortunately, this is not the case across all schools, and therefore the lesson sheets help by providing time-saving activities, whilst still being able to cover the breadth and depth of the course.
In addition, students who may be limited by literacy issues, e.g. slower writing paces, are not disadvantaged or capped in their progress. Therefore, some classes could use a mixed approach - part lesson sheets, part exercise book - and all students will be able to progress through the same volume of content.