Accessing the Curriculum
Most refugee children want above all else to be involved in mainstream activities with their peers, and to experience success in their learning. Teachers will be aware of the diversity in their classes and will take this into account in their planning, developing approaches that include all children. Refugee children will not want to be marginalised by having to do large parts of their learning in separate groups, working on activities that are unrelated to the mainstream curriculum.
Accessing the Curriculum: Introduction
In order to access the curriculum fully, children need above all else to feel safe.
They will feel motivated if they know that their abilities are recognised and that the work set is within their capabilities. As far as possible, teachers should be looking to enable children to develop the skills to work independently. This is true of all children, whether refugees or not, and at whatever stage they may be in learning English. Find out more »
As far as possible, children who are new to the school and/or new to English should be included within the mainstream class for their learning. However, schools are allowed the flexibility to make special arrangements for the curriculum and timetabling where these are in the best interests of the child. [1]
Schools will normally make a provisional immediate assessment of a new child's capabilities in English to cover the first week or so. It is usually helpful to wait a while before doing any more detailed assessment: a child will perform to the best of their abilities when they feel comfortable. Beware of allocating a child to groups needing support on the basis of their ability in English alone.
Schools have a duty to monitor the progress of different groups of pupils throughout their education, not just when they arrive, and plan future teaching on the basis of this.
A useful approach in planning is to identify potential barriers to learning in advance, and gradually build up a bank of resources for use throughout the school. Find out more
Many schools that support refugee children have found that talking about refugee issues in the curriculum, particularly during Refugee Week, has provided an opportunity for children to share something of their experiences, whereas they may not have felt that school was an appropriate place to do so before, or that anyone was interested. There are often benefits in terms of the child's sense of identity, and sometimes in their standing with their peers. Of course no child should be 'put on the spot' - wait for them to offer information. Find out more »
[1] See QCA: Designing and timetabling the primary curriculum: a practical guide for key stages 1 and 2 http://www.qca.org.uk/ages3-14/afl/6306.html
QCA: Designing the key stage 3 curriculum http://www.qca.org.uk/ages3-14/4789.html