Goal:
- To increase understanding of diverse students’ perspectives.
- To foster understanding that everyone has the right to belong and to feel valued and important.
- To increase understanding of crises and how they may affect different students in different ways.
- To strengthen the ability to identify and evaluate ways in which different actors can support children and young people, including during times of crisis.
- To practise considering other people’s perspectives and proposing constructive solutions.
Assignment:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools rapidly transitioned to remote learning. Many students experienced loneliness and isolation at a time when they longed to feel valued, loved, and important. For some students, attending school and feeling a sense of belonging may already have been challenging even before the pandemic. According to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, some children may be in a more vulnerable position than others, including children with refugee backgrounds or those belonging to minority groups. Being in a vulnerable position means not having the same opportunities as others. For example, a lack of friends, experiences of exclusion, or difficulties finding one’s place in a group may reduce opportunities to be noticed and included. Especially during times of crisis, it is important to ensure that everyone is taken into account and that no one is left out.
Watch the animation about experiences during the pandemic and write down any thoughts it evokes. You may reflect on questions such as:
- What caught your attention in the animation?
- What kinds of challenges do the narrators face? (before the pandemic / during the pandemic / after the pandemic)
- What might help the narrators? What would help them feel valued and important?
- How could different people or groups help? Consider, for example, the roles of other students, friends, teachers, schools, policymakers, or society as a whole.
- What feels most important to you in the animation or in your reflections?
Have your say: What advice would you like to give to others? (For example, how can we make sure that all students are better included and supported, even during times of crisis?) You can start with, for example:
- Teachers / schools / students / decisionmakers should ____________________.
*[If you wish, your teacher may send your recommendations to a researcher at Tampere University: jussi.hakalahti@tuni.fi.]
