Palestine lesson prompts
Introduction
With the siege on Gaza (October 2023), young people across Britain have witnessed the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Senior United Nation staff, human rights organisations, and leaders of multiple countries across the Global south have called this a collective punishment and therefore a war crime.
Thousands of young people in Britain are participating in actions to show solidarity with the Palestinian people, marching on the streets, attending school strikes, wearing Palestinian badges, keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags.
Government policies and media coverage have led to Black, brown and Muslim young people being increasingly censored, surveilled and punished for showing solidarity with Palestine.
Schools are meant to be places for learning and they have a duty of care with our children. We created this resource for educators to teach about Palestine in a way that links to what is already being taught while also connecting it to cultures and struggles for justice from around the world.
The Need
The British education system follows a “banking model,” where we deposit information into students and then expect them to regurgitate it, in order to pass standardised tests. Combined with our Eurocentric curriculum, it means the ‘knowledge’ we fill them with reflects the perspectives of those in power and reinforces the status quo.
Over recent months, we have heard from teachers how this model of education prevents them from being able to develop a mutual learning space where with their students, they are allowed to think critically and teachers are able to show solidarity with young people in their grieving. Many teachers have shared how guidance from the government and senior leaders in school is forcing them to implement censorship on their students and narrowing what gets taught.
What We Did
This resource has come out of training and study sessions that we have run with teachers and trainee teachers across England. It connects the teaching of Palestine to topics that are already being taught in the classroom while also encouraging a “global perspective” (as described by Martin Luther King) by connecting it with other world events.
These lesson prompts can be easily adapted to a range of year groups. You can add your own prompts and content in various formats. Prompts can be turned into visual art or any other form of expression. Individual work can become collective. Adapt the curriculum to fit the energy of your learning circle and trust the student’s knowledge and skills.
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