Photo by Flickr user Gregalicious provided for use under a Creative Commons Licence.
What would happen if all migration to the UK stopped?
A Teacher Developed Unit
The aim of this final session is to give you an opportunity to plan and think through a possible final part to this unit. A number of resources are provided or suggested and you may want to do some research of your own.
The scenario is an interesting one because unlike everything that has gone before, it is theoretical rather than real. It emphasizes, however, the important role that we play as geographers in dealing with 'possible futures'. It mirrors, in fact, what a lot of people do in real life - look back at the past, analyse the current situation and plan for the future. Pupils can be very good at this aspect of the geographer's role, enjoying the opportunity to use their knowledge and understanding coupled with a healthy dose of imagination.
There are many UK citizens who would happily go along with the simple notion of 'stopping all immigration' without thinking too deeply about the benefits and challenges that this would bring. There are others, however, who have attempted to think it through and have still seriously proposed at least a 5-10 year halt to immigration. It may be useful to provide pupils with both an extreme view on this ('no further immigration - ever!') and the more reasonable, but still extremely challenging prospect of 'no immigration for the next 10 years'. In the context of stopping immigration, it will be important to deal also with an aspect that we have avoided so far in this unit - emigration from the UK.
As you work through some ideas for this topic, try to ensure that you integrate the key processes which currently underline the new secondary curriculum:
a) What are you trying to achieve?
b) How are you going to organise the learning?
c) How are you going to know that you have achieved your aims?
Looking back over the other sessions in this unit of work. What do you see as the value of taking a 'futures perspective'? In what ways does it reinforce and strengthen the other work that pupils will have tackled on immigration?
Resources
Note: these resources are aimed initially at teachers and it is the responsibility of the teacher to check carefully that any resource listed is suitable for classroom use. Please always read all articles carefully and watch videos all the way through before using with pupils.
News Articles
'Is immigration an election issue?' (BBC, 2010)
'Fewer asylum seekers and immigrants arrive in UK' (The Guardian. 2010)
'Using immigration to turn Britain into a nation of Labour voters...'(Daily Mail, 2010)
'Opponents of immigration could be racist, warned advisers...' (Telegraph, 2010)
'Make immigration a Conservative issue' (The Guardian, 2010)
'UK immigration statistics are wrong claim 3 councils' (Global Visas, 2010)
'Immigration 'small benefit' to UK' (BBC, 2008)
'Cameron targets lower immigration' (BBC, 2007)
Videos
'Limits to Immigration' on www.workpermit.com
'Points system for immigrants' on BBC website
'Immigration Basics' on Videojug
Others
Immigration - The Big Debate (BBC and Radio 5)
Immigration - Survey of Public Opinion
Immigration. Benefits for the UK - academic paper
Does Britain Need Immigration? - debate in Prospect magazine
The Economic Impact of Immigration - from House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs
Remember, these resources are presented to give you a taster - there is much more material out there on the web, and with a topic as current as this one new stories will be appearing all the time.
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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