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Plenary
This web-based CPD unit has focussed on the 'controversial' topic of immigration and draws on both the personal geographies of the pupils as well as a series of migration case studies based on the Pumpkin TV / Geographical Association DVD, 'Changing Populations'.The unit attempts to illustrate how even younger pupils can tackle 'difficult' or 'sensitive' topics in geography. It is hoped that more teachers will do justice to a topic which remains at the heart of the public imagination and which is the cause of so much debate and bad feeling amongst many sectors of our society. Mutual respect, tolerance and social cohesion are worthy aspirations but young people need both a context and a framework for developing their attitudes and ideas about the society in which we live. As geographers, we can do much to provide both context and framework.
Through this work, which focuses on both the individual and on the wider community, we can also play a key supportive role in the more general school curriculum which aims to personalise learning:
'Every child needs an education that is contextualized and relevant to them.' (Diversity and Citizenship: A Curriculum Review, 2007)
The unit demonstrates that, rather than teachers providing a superficial overview, based mainly on data and generalisations about immigration, there is a strong argument for giving pupils the opportunity to look in depth at the issues and have a chance to discuss with both the teacher and with each other the benefits and challenges of immigration at the personal, local, national and international scales. Immigration is a process which underpins our history, our contemporary geography and will certainly be part of our future(s) geography.
Links and Resources
A list of useful websites so that you can take your investigation of this issue further.
Immigration control statistics from the Home Office
Summary of the new UK 5 Tier Points-based Immigration System
Development of the points-based system - key documents
Refugee Studies Centre Working Papers
Moving here – 200 years of migration in England
Get recognition for your learning
You have reached the final page of this unit. If you are committed to the ideas shared here and have used the unit as a distant learning CPD opportunity you might want to gain personal validation for the learning that you have undertaken. It is now possible to do this through the General Teaching Council's Teacher Learning Academy (TLA).
The GA is a TLA Support Partner which means that if you are working towards TLA Stage One or Two verification you can use one or more of these courses to provide the focus for your learning journey.
Sharing your learning
We would love to hear from you about how you developed the resources and approaches presented in this course in your own school, so that it becomes an interactive resource and part of an ongoing professional dialogue. Contact John Lyon at the Geographical Association with your thoughts and contributions, or additional websites and materials that might be appropriate.
Or you might want to share what you have learnt with others through the Geographical Association Network (or Ning). Sign up for your free account.
Slideshare, Slideboom and Scribd are other places you might choose to share your work (as long as others know its there!).
Thank you, and if you enjoyed the course, remember to tell others about it!
Course Units
 Introduction |
 Getting Started |
 A History of Migration |
 Migration from the EU |
 Migration from outside the EU |
 Refugees and Asylum Seekers |
 What would happen? |
 Pedagogy and Thinking |
 Plenary |
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