The Impact of Asylum Seekers on Dover
Aim
To find out how the arrival of asylum seekers has affected local people in Dover, Kent.
Objectives
| Read through information to find out about the basic events in Dover. Read about the role of two groups in Kent - Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) and the police. | |
| Form a judgement about their actions. | |
| Consider the two groups from different perspectives. | |
| Discuss the role of the two groups. |
Resources
| Activity Sheet 1.1 , Kent and Dover: Background Information | |
| Activity Sheet 1.2 , Activity Sheet 1.3 , Activity Sheet 1.4 , Activity Sheet 1.5 , Activity Sheet 1.6 , Activity Sheet 1.7 , two interviews with questions | |
| Activity Sheet 1.8 , role-play cards | |
| Activity Sheet 1.9 , homework |
Tasks
1. Read through the background on Activity Sheet 1.1
2. Read through the interviews
| • | The straightforward approach is simply to give out both the interviews to each student and ask them to work through the questions. |
| • | Alternatively, give some students the KRAN interview and others the police interview to work on. Ask them to share their answers. |
| • | A further variation is for students to work through the interviews in the same way as they analysed the text in Activity 1 of the Core Lessons ( Activity Sheet 1.2 ), producing a summary which they could then write into speech bubbles for the two Kent groups. The class could be split and the summary made into a competition. |
3. Discuss the key points
| • | The questions on Activity Sheets 1.2 - 1.7 will provide a structure for feedback. |
| • | Alternatively, you could give out the role-play cards from Activity Sheet 1.8 and encourage students to think about the situation in Dover from different people's viewpoints. |
| • | Try to avoid an over-simplistic definition of people as good/bad. |
Discussion Points
| What are some of the concerns of those local people who do not welcome asylum seekers? | |
| Why do you think they have responded like this? | |
| What could public services have done to help in this situation? | |
| How would you feel if an asylum seeker was rude to you? How would you feel about other asylum seekers you might meet afterwards? | |
| How do you think asylum seekers might feel towards the local area? | |
| How would they feel towards local people if they have already had some sort of conflict with others elsewhere? |
Extension
Build on the interview with Mark Pugash in order to hold a debate on the limits on freedom of speech.
Differentiation
Split the interviews into smaller sections so that each group can work on a focused task for a particular section.
Homework
Write down one action that each of the characters on the role-play cards could take to improve the situation.
National Curriculum Focus
| 1 (a) Individual responsibilities | |
| 1(b) diversity and the need for mutual understanding, | |
| 1(f) the work of voluntary groups | |
| 1(g) resolving conflict fairly | |
| 2(a) Analysing information, | |
| 2(b and c) justify an opinion and debate | |
| 3(a) Consider others' opinions | |
| Key skills: communication |