info@teachingcitizenship.org.uk 020 7566 4133

ACT : Association for Citizenship Teaching

Main Menu

Info Pages

Members Only Area

Why should we teach about identity and diversity?

Teachers have accepted for a long time that students should learn about the negative effects of racism on people’s lives. Indeed, schools are required by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 to promote positive race relations. More recently, schools were given a new duty to promote community cohesion (inserted into the Education Act, 2002 by the Education and Inspections Act, 2006). For their own welfare, students also need to know what the law says about racism and hate crime. The law can deter potential offenders and protect potential victims but education can go farther than the law by helping young people examine their own attitudes to other people and other faiths and explore difference, whether real or perceived, through rational and logical debate. All of these processes are known to contribute to higher levels of tolerance towards ‘people of difference’.

Teaching about identity however, appears a more difficult task altogether. In the first place, many aspects of a person’s identity are private and may rightly be of no concern to the teacher. And in any case, many young people are still in the process of discovering their true identities, which may continue to develop over time. So the question facing teachers is ‘what aspects of a person’s identity are relevant to the issue of diversity and community cohesion and how can education do anything to influence someone’s identity?’

Following the London bombings of July 7th 2005, concerns grew that many young people, particularly of the Muslim faith, were failing to become fully integrated into British society. The problem appears to be most serious amongst the children of migrants rather than the migrants themselves. One theory1 suggests that in such circumstances, second generation migrants grow up between two worlds, not feeling fully part of their parents’ world and yet not fully belonging to the society of the host country. Some young people, as a result may become more religious than their parents, as a way of affirming who they are.

Education can help young people of all faiths, and none, develop into citizens who feel part of society and who want to participate in it to make it and the wider world a better place to live in. If young people, whether Muslim or not, feel that the education they are offered does not meet their needs, they may look elsewhere for recognition and validation.

Note 1: Shiv Malik (2007) ‘My Brother the bomber’ Prospect Magazine, June 2007.

The above is copied from the WDWTWAW web page 2008-2010

Web links

The Ajegbo Report

The ACT review of resources exploring identity and diversity 2008

London 2012 update

Download a variety of lesson plans below for Key Stages 2-4

These resources were developed jointly by ACT, The History Association, The RGS, The Citizenship Foundation and the Schools Linking Network.

Useful Documents - Right click to download

The European Union

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : united_in_diversity_lesson_plan.pdf ( 156 K )

Description : This lesson introduces the students to the countries of the European Union through mapping and discussion sessions. The students will use materials from the European Union to label a classroom map with information about the member countries. They will identify which countries use the Euro and discuss why not all of them do so. The students will complete a map of the European Union for their own use. The lesson ends with a discussion of the future of the European Union.

There are two downloads with this.

Sharon Goralewski, Oakland School

European Union lesson plan

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : this_lesson_introduces_the_students_to_the_countries_of_the_european_union_through_mapping_and_discussion_sessions.rtf ( 49 K )

Description :

Respecting Differences:A Friend for Farouk

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : respecting_differences_-_a_friend_for_farouk.pdf ( 848 K )

Description : This Key Stage 1 & 2 unit by Don Rowe and Enid Tickle looks at the need to respect differences between people, whether they are based on gender, race, disability, appearance or something else. The effects of people’s intolerance and unkindness are explored.

The unit is based on a true story and recounts the isolation of a child trying to settle into a new school in the face of cultural and linguistic barriers. Events are seen through the eyes of the child in order to encourage children to understand how it feels to be isolated and rejected. The story provides the opportunity to explore different kinds of prejudice and can also be used to challenge the factual basis of the stereotypes students are familiar with.

Key ideas explored include:

 Respecting racial and cultural differences

 Concern for others

 Freedom from discrimination and prejudice

London 2012

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : module_overview_-_the_local_geography_of_the_london_2012_games.pdf ( 190 K )

Description : Building the London 2012 Games is a truly nationwide endeavour, providing a unique opportunity for businesses across the UK to benefit from the largest project this country has seen in a lifetime. Already around 900 businesses from around the country have won contracts worth billions of pounds supplying work to the Olympic Delivery Authority. Almost half of these have gone to UK firms outside London, two thirds of which are small or medium sized enterprises. Tourism throughout the UK and construction industries will benefit in the short and long term respectively. Social and cultural events will foster cultural understanding as people from many nations come together for a shared experience and explore commonalities and differences in their values, which in turn will support a better understanding of and commitment to community cohesion. The promotion and celebration of cultural diversity was central to Britain’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Hosting the Games provides Britain with the opportunity to increase participation and representation rates of all its communities within sport. Importantly it also provides a unique opportunity to promote community relations across the country.

The module begins by asking the question ‘Will London 2012 be a national event?' It looks at regional impacts in terms of the 100’s of contractors across the country involved in the successful development of the 2012 sites and the delivery of the Games themselves, as well as the cultural impact on local areas across Britain.

There are two downloads for this.

Lesson plans for London 2012

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : lesson_plans_-_the_local_geography_of_the_london_2012_games.pdf ( 243 K )

Description :

Muslim Tommies

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : module_overview_-_muslim_tommies.pdf ( 158 K )

Description : This Year 9 unit of study focuses on the involvement in the First World War of Muslims from Britain and the Indian sub-continent. It follows the reaction of white British Muslim converts in Woking, Surrey to the declaration of a jihad against Britain by the Ottoman Sultan and Khalifa (Caliph), Mehmed V in 1914. By contrast it then traces the story of the treatment of Indian Muslim soldiers fighting for Britain in France and elsewhere, their subsequent hospitalisation at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and burial according to Muslim rites at a specific burial ground in Woking. Finally, the module brings the story up to date by inviting pupils to design a restored Woking burial ground, according to the priorities of three different modern groups, including a fictional British Muslim body, Islamic Heritage. Throughout the module pupils explore what the historical evidence reveals about attitudes among Muslims at the time and how they were regarded by British people in the same period. Changing attitudes are followed into the present by study of the neglected Muslim burial ground, set against the backdrop of British Imperial decline and Muslim migration into the UK. The module assumes that pupils will have experienced some prior learning on the First World War and the British Empire and should have some awareness of Islam and its core beliefs through knowledge gained in Religious Education.

There are two downloads for this.

Muslim Tommies lesson

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : lesson_plans_-_muslim_tommies_unit.pdf ( 215 K )

Description :

What have the Olympics got to do with us?

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : key_stage_1_2_module_overview_-_what_have_the_olympics_and_paralympics_got_to_do_with_us.pdf ( 113 K )

Description : This Key Stage 1 & 2 unit of study about the founding of the modern Olympic movement was written by Andrew Wrenn (General Advisor - History, Cambridgeshire County Council and Trustee of the Historical Association). The unit comprises 5 lessons providing young people with the opportunity to explore events leading up to the founding of the modern Olympic movement and the role of historic figures within this. The unit also goes on to compare and contrast the ancient and modern Olympics to evaluate change and continuity and also looks at the Nazi staging of the 1936 Berlin Olympics*. The final lesson in the unit contrasts the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games in London.

There are two downloads with this.

What have the Olympics got to do with us? Lesson plans

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : module_lesson_plans_-_what_have_the_olympics_and_paralympics_got_to_do_with_us.pdf ( 202 K )

Description :

An Ethical Dilemma?

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : theodore_boone_module_overview_ks2.doc ( 21 K )

Description : The lesson plan consists of two modules, one aiming for years 5 and 6 and the other suitable for years 7 and 8. These modules enable young people to explore important issues of citizenship. The pupils will explore rights and responsibilities, especially the law and then focus on a dilemma experienced by the fictional character of Theodore Boone a 13 year old boy. The lessons use characters and episodes in the book to illustrate experiences to draw out key areas concerning what it is to be a citizen and what that means for Rights and Responsibilities, participation and inclusion or exclusion. The focus for this module is the Citizenship curriculum, however it also supports issues in PSHE and will support literacy.

There are four downloads, two for KS2 and two for KS3

Module overview for Theodore boone KS2

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : module_plan_theo_boone_ks2.doc ( 130 K )

Description :

Module overview Theodore Boone KS3

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : theodore_boone_module_overview_ks3.doc ( 21 K )

Description :

Module overview Theodore Boone KS3

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : module_plan_theo_boone_ks3.doc ( 131 K )

Description :

Walter Tull; Footballer and gentleman

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : wdwtwa-ks3-module-walter-tull.pdf ( 77 K )

Description : This Key Stage 3 unit of study about the life of Walter Tull was written by Dan Lyndon, Head of History at Henry Compton School (London). The unit comprises 6 lessons which provide opportunities for young people to investigate Tull's life experiences as a black British army officer and football player at the turn of the 20th century and, thus, explore issues of identity, diversity and citizenship through the lens of history.

There are two downloads with this work.

Walter Tull lesson plan

Uploaded : 05 July 2010

Filename : walter-tull-ks3-module-lesson-plans.pdf ( 103 K )

Description :