Refugees and migration teaching resources
Use these free migration and refugee teaching resources to promote compassion, informed discussion, and an understanding of the challenges faced by refugees and migrants around the world.
Use our free teaching resources to help young people challenge assumptions about migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, and to develop mutual respect, empathy and understanding. Our activities for teaching about refugees and human migration lesson plans are suitable for Geography, Citizenship and PSHE.
Use our guide for how to teach others about refugees and migrants, including:
- what causes people to leave their homes and what their experiences are like
- the meaning of the terms asylum seekers, migrants and refugees
- what makes us who we are and how we can understand and celebrate our differences.
Empathy plus migration workshop
Book a free Empathy plus migration workshop to help students develop empathy for migrants' moving motives and explore the experience of migration.
For questions or feedback about these resources, contact us at redcrosseducation@redcross.org.uk.
Learning about refugees and migration
Activities co-produced by VOICES network ambassadors to help children and young people develop empathy and understanding towards people with migration experience. Suitable for learners ages 10 to 16.
In the news
Newsthink: conflict in Sudan
Explore the crisis in Sudan through a humanitarian lens. Use images to explore the impact the conflict is having on civilians, many of whom have fled their country or are still trying to leave. Suitable for ages 10 to 19.
Newsthink: Ukraine crisis
Use our Newsthink resource to explore the events in Ukraine through a powerful photo and explore how humanitarian crises affect people. Suitable for ages 11 to 19.
Topical teaching resources exploring news from a humanitarian perspective. Real-life examples through film clips, photographs and stories linked to the news to prompt discussion and develop critical thinking and media literacy.
Refugee week
Newsthink: Refugee week 2023
Learn about the UK’s annual awareness event – Refugee Week – through a humanitarian lens using this Newsthink resource. Suitable for the top year of Primary and all of Secondary (10-19 years old).
Refugee week 2021: We cannot walk alone
Educate young people on the isolation felt by refugees during the pandemic and how they can help to be more inclusive. Suitable for secondary school aged student (12-18 years old).
Explore our free educational resources for Refugee Week. Engage students with insightful lesson plans and activities that promote understanding and empathy toward refugee experiences.
Further learning
Identity and belonging
Activities to encourage children and young people to think critically about stigma and migration, and what makes us who we are. Suitable for ages 7 to 14.
Refugee journeys: the long road
Engage with refugee stories by listening to songs based on real-life stories of refugees and asylum seekers, from the album The Long Road. Suitable for ages 14 to 19.
Child evacuees in World War II: Why people leave home
Explore what pupils know and think about refugees and kindness, with a speech by a teenage Queen Elizabeth II to evacuees in World War II. Suitable for ages 7 to 11.
Listen to our podcast
Listen to stories of refugees speaking up for change.
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