Refugee Week

What did we do?

Since 2003 Leicester City Museums has worked with pupils from ten primary and three secondary schools across the city to share their own cultures and to investigate the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers. A series of workshops encourages pupils to explore museum collections, using the objects and works of art on display to inspire and reinforce their learning.

Primary school workplaces took place at the Guildhall Museum in Leicester where the Education and Outreach team used drama, mask-making, poetry and percussion as a creative introduction to the refugee experience.

Secondary students’ workshops at New Walk Museum, Leicester, focused on:

• the reasons why people migrate and what they leave behind,
• using the museum’s Johannes Koelz’s Triptych and the story of his flight from Nazi Germany, to explore the experiences of refugees,
• using the World Cultures Gallery to give a broader context to the pupils’ understanding of Global Citizenship and broader international issues.
  

what were the outcomes?

Refugee Week offers a starting point to combat intolerance, something of particular importance when working with older students, who may have long-formed prejudices.

• Teachers were delighted by the workshops, not only because participants increased their knowledge and understanding of issues related to asylum seekers and refugees and about other cultures around the world, but also because many have felt themselves personally challenged.
  
• As part of its work to encourage more refugees and asylum seekers to attend family events at Leicester’s museums, the Education and Outreach team has liaised with refugee and asylum support organisations resulting in an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) pack so that museum visits can help develop English skills.