Stage

Stage 6

Background of this stage: Education only opens the mind and enables change when it leads to action. The experience of personal and collective action can be reflected upon and in turn promote education.

Objectives

Upon completion of this stage, students should:

recognize their own possibilities for action (with regard to the issue of refuge/migration/diversity)
be motivated and able to make use of the opportunities that they have

Content

Exploration of starting points, opportunities and needs for action in one's own everyday life
Development of ideas and first steps

Methods

Reflection on what is important and valuable to oneself
Exploration of situations that call for action on the basis of these values and according to the knowledge and experience gained in this course
Discussion about first ideas

Transition from previous stages

Remind students that they have learned and experienced a lot about the situation of refugees and about the question what refugees and we all need in order to lead a good life together. Today the point is about going beyond mere knowledge towards concrete action.

Step #1

What has become important to me in the course – and what could I do?

Each stage has been completed with a reflection task. Ask the students to examine their personal results (photos and notes) to see what suggestions they contain for possible action.

For example, the reflection tasks were concerned with what would be particularly important to oneself, if one had to seek refuge in a foreign country. Or it was about which rights of refugees one considers particularly important. This could lead to the conclusion that one should make one's own contribution to refugees being treated in this way.

On this basis, ask students to write down for themselves ideas for a possible action that may still be very vague and preliminary. For example: "I could imagine that I ..." There could be a perceived need in the school context. Or someone became aware of a particular conflict in the community.

Step #2

Starting points for action in our everyday life

Ask the students to form groups of 4-6 to answer the following question:

Are there any starting points for action in our daily lives (at school, in the community, with my circle of friends, etc.)?

There may be refugees in our class/school.
There may be a refugee shelter near the school.
There may be improper generalizations and prejudices used at school or outside school (e.g. on the Internet).

Ask the group to create a list of concrete starting points for action which each student considers further in the next step.

Step #3

What can and would I like to do?

Ask students to develop concrete actions, based on their own ideas and on the starting points they have collected, to contribute to an improved living together with refugees and migrants.

The actions

should be realistic and can be implemented in my everyday life (less is more!)
should be useful and helpful for others (for refugees, for the community), but they should also be fun. Therefore, the question is important: What special contribution can I make with my talents and abilities - and what contribution would I like to make?

Students should note actions:

that they can perform on their own, individually;
as well as actions that they can perform only together with others (classmates).

Step #4

Market of possibilities

Encourage students who have an idea for a common action to introduce it and win classmates to join the action.
If your school participates in the Student Ambassadors programme, this could be a good starting point for (future) activities.

Students with a project idea present themselves in a “market of possibilities”: Anyone who would like to present an idea is available for discussion at a table or flipchart. The other students can walk around from one proposal to the next and discuss the respective offer. Finally, every student should choose an idea/an action that he/she finds attractive enough to engage in. Ideas that are not interesting enough (e.g. less than 4 students) should be put on hold.

Discuss in class which of the ideas/actions can actually be implemented. If there are too many ideas, you can let students vote by giving them sticky points. This results in a prioritization of ideas.

Step #5

Start of implementation

It is important that for each idea/action there is a responsible student (or small group of students) and that the names of all students who want to participate are taken down.
If time permits, the action groups can create a rough plan (who does what by when...) in this lesson.
It is important that students can seek advice in the future implementation of their action and that there is a date by which a first reflection can take place.
Reflection can be based on the following questions (Questions → worksheet for students):

What did we want to achieve with our action?
What have we achieved? How satisfied are we with the result?
How did I feel during the action? What made me joyful, what was difficult or disappointing?
What did I learn from the action - about society, about other people, about myself?
Have I changed - and if so, in what regard?

Outlook

Even if the course ends with the planning of actions, it is important that the reflection actually takes place at a later point in time.

It would be ideal if both the common actions and their reflection could take place within the framework of the Student Ambassadors programme. The ambassadors can play an important role in the implementation, monitoring and reflection of the actions and coordinate with each other.

By combining this course with the Student Ambassadors programme, it will be easier to actually achieve the objectives of the course and to open the mind!