Education News

Teachers, are your students currently investigating the lives of refugees and asylum seekers? The ACTF has a range of engaging educational content and support materials related to Refugee Week and World Refugee Day.

Refugee Week will be held from 16 – 22 June in 2019, coinciding with World Refugee Day on 20 June. This annual activity aims to celebrate the positive contributions refugees have made to Australian society, and to raise awareness about the issues affecting refugees, including the journeys they have taken to reach Australia. The content and teaching materials showcased in our Refugees Resource Package will support teachers in exploring these themes with upper primary and secondary students.

The lives of refugees and asylum seekers are depicted in episodes of both MY:24 and My Place, and teaching resources for these programs will support students in exploring the key issues in forced migration.

A more recent series, Woven Threads: Stories from Afar presents varied refugee stories through beautiful and powerful animations. The emotive storytelling compels us to remember our shared humanity, and to identify with the universality of the refugee experience. The complete series is currently available to stream on ABC iview.

The Woven Threads: Stories from Afar Teaching Toolkit aims to support teachers in exploring key themes from the series. The resource also aims to build students’ understanding of, and empathy with, refugees and asylum seekers. It contains curriculum-mapped learning tasks for Year 5-10 students, drawing on content from a wide range of learning areas, capabilities, and cross-curricular priorities. Tasks were designed with an inquiry approach, aiming to foster communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking in the classroom.   

Check out this education package to help develop your students’ knowledge and understanding of refugees’ experiences during 2019 Refugee Week.