Worldviews. What does it mean to live in a religiously diverse world? (Autumn 1)
Session 1 - What is religious diversity?
This lesson is based on a lesson plan from Equal Rights, Equal Respect by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Looking at a small bowl of jelly babies all in the same colour and a bowl of jelly babies in different flavours.
Question(s) - Which do you prefer to have? Why did most of you pick to have greater variety?
Today we are looking at what diversity means and that we are going to start with a survey about our personal choices.
We are going to be appreciating the benefits of diversity.
Using the slides from Equal Rights, Equal Respect to explore immigration to the UK and some of the reasons why.
Discuss - the impact of immigration of the food, music, sports of Great Britain.
Can you decide on the origin.
Look at religious diversity in the UK.
Can you name as many different religions as you can?
Do they think these religions have followers in the UK? Where did the religion originate?
Look at a world map coded according to religion. Where does atheism and non-religious views fit in?
Think about the places you have visited on holidays. What is showing on the map as the majority faith?
Think about our international partnership schools and the diversity of faiths there. What assumptions did we have about their faiths of the children there?
Session 2 - What is my identity and what is a stereotype? What can I do about discrimination?
What makes up your individual identity? Imagine yourself in the middle of an onion. The peel closet to you is what you consider to be your most important identity.
TASK - Draw an onion in your book. Draw yourself inside.
Think about how you have many different identities first and make a list of them before ranking them. Your identity could include your role within your family, your friends, hobbies, where born, where live, a faith or cultural identity, likes, strengths.
Compare pictures, is there anything unknown about each other?
What is a stereotype?
Look at what an onion may look like about a child from a faith background, explain that these are fictional individuals
What stereotypes do people have associated with being from another country? Why are these stereotypes? Stereotypes may have been formed by images which we have seen in the past. Sometimes images may be used to create stereotypes by someone who wants you to agree with their beliefs, then stereotypes may lead to discrimination.
Look at some images through history which have been used for antisemitism and Islamophobia.
DISCUSSION - Why do you need to be critical thinkers when looking at images around you?
Discussion about discrimination. Time to reflect about a time when you may have discriminated. What could do to celebrate individual identities and to challenge perceptions. Role play bullying of a religions nature and how an individual could combat this. Role play talking to another child who is expressing views which you don’t like or agree with, how can you unpack, open up and challenge those views? Discuss what should you do if someone talks to you who you think has an extremist view or a point of view which makes you feel really uncomfortable.
Session 3 - How do different religions celebrate the birth of a child? Can I identify diversity within a religion?
DISCUSS - how their families celebrated their birth having discussed it at home. Make a list of the different and similar ways which your birth was celebrated. Were there any traditions which were specific to your family which have been passed down?
In groups decide on what aspects they would want to include if they were designing a celebration for a new baby born on their street. Think about the cultural background of the family they are thinking about, is there anything in particular which should be included to mark this.
Children to work in teams to research on iPad and then present how those with different worldviews celebrate the birth of a child. Select countries from current immigration statistics both high and low to give different responses. Include a Humanist / non-religious family. Consider diversity within a religion.