We design and write curriculum and syllabuses on refugee law. To help schools and colleges learn about refugee issues, we have produced a range of teaching materials and selected online resources for teachers. 

With forced displacement reaching historic levels, schools all over the world are welcoming increasing numbers of refugee children. Teachers are facing new challenges in making sense of forced displacement and its complexities. Refugees and migrants regularly make headlines and the internet is bustling with information on the topic. Explaining the situation of refugees and migrants to primary and secondary school children has become part of many educators’ daily work.

In addition, training and guidance for teachers with refugees in their classrooms is not always based on best practice, and is not always easily available.

On this AU Watch Teaching About Refugees page you can find free-of-charge and adaptable AU Watch teaching materials on refugees, asylum, migration and statelessness and a section dedicated to professional development and guidance for primary and secondary school teachers on including refugee children in their classes. Use and combine these materials as you see fit in your lessons about the topic.

Words matter

• Facts and figures about refugees
• UNHCR media materials and reports
• Teaching materials
• Including refugees in your classroom
• Other teaching resources

Words matter
Understanding the terms refugees, migration and asylum begins with understanding a few basics. The word refugee is often used as a blanket term for people displaced by war, violence or persecution. But there are different categories of displaced people, each with specific needs. Knowing what these categories mean exactly is important and will contribute to better understanding of this complex topic.