Background
Currently, we see a future for our children and young people where extreme and entrenched income and wealth inequality are seen as problematic, yet an unavoidable consequence of economic growth. Discussions around social mobility embed the belief that the only barrier to success in the UK is a lack of hard work, despite all the evidence that shows this to be untrue. We will build upon our previous work on educational materials (such as the novel Kuan’s Wonderland, the game Economicon, photo series ‘Visualising Inequality‘, our Theatre in Education Resource Guide and our Employment Rights with Young People project), developing new resources to be used in schools and colleges to support teachers and students to question these assumptions when economic inequality is covered in lessons.
What are we striving to achieve?
- Working with educators, we will develop interventions for different stages and subjects in the school curricula, that seek to change the narrative that the wide range of social harms in our society result from poor individual choices, and challenge the resultant stereotypes that are often developed and embedded at a young age.
- Improvement of resources available for teachers to discuss intersecting socio-economic inequalities and their impacts on society.
- Develop resources on socio-economic inequality to be used in teacher training.
What impact have we had?
- Working with Dr Neil Herrington we ran a workshop with trainee teachers at the end of 2018 – to find out what resources are needed. You can access the PowerPoint and output from the workshop [PDF].
- In partnership with Bedales, we are facilitating a geography festival focused on inequality. Involving pupils and teachers from schools across London and the South East, we will be running two workshops focussing on the co-production of resources. You can access a wealth of resources by Paul Turner on radical geography – which looks at how geography can play a key role in radical social, political and environmental campaigning.
Equal Pay School Resources
As part of our #EqualPay50 campaign, we are engaging young people (aged 14-18) on the issue of gender pay inequality by working in partnership with schools, unions and education networks to deliver a series of interactive lessons on income inequality, equal pay, and the gender pay gap.
Employment Rights and Young People
The lesson plans have been produced to support teachers in engaging with issues around employment rights. The plan and resources in this project were produced by a group of young people who attended a series of workshops facilitated by The Equality Trust and supported by The Alex Ferry Foundation. The lessons have been trialled with several schools across the UK with a positive response from both students and teachers. The lessons are split into two subjects and give students the opportunity to explore issues surrounding their employment rights.
Discrimination
This lesson is about discrimination in the context of employment rights. It looks at protected characteristics and what you can do if you suffer discrimination at work. Suitable for years 8-10 depending on the group and mainly useful for P.S.H.E and Citizenship.
Employment Rights
The lesson plans have been produced in an effort to support teachers in engaging with issues around employment rights and could be used in the PSHE or Citizenship curricula.
Other Resources
- As part of our involvement with the upcoming Teach Peace pack for secondary schools, from the Peace Education Network, we produced a lesson plan, presentation and teacher notes on the topic ‘Do we need greater equality for peace?’
- Our Young Equality Campaigners have developed a website exploring race, class and indentity in modern Britain – this ncludes two separate downloadable resources for use in a variety of settings.
- As part of our Equal Pay 50 campaign, we have developed a set of schools resources that focuses on the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act.
- Cat Van Saarloos has adapted some of our schools resources to be used in teaching Core Maths – one that covers the first two lessons and another that covers lesson three as well as links between happiness and inequality.
Get involved
Please get in touch with Jo, Project Lead if you would like to find out more about getting involved in this project – whether you are a student, teacher or teacher trainer we would love to hear from you!
Funding and partnership
This project is being partly funded by Network for Social Change.