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Student Voice and Leadership

This sections aims to provide guidance, resources and examples for colleges to foster ethically-informed student voice and leadership of sanctuary activities.

Criteria 5 and 9 is all about empowering student voice and ownership of sanctuary activities – both in and outside of college.

This page is under development, so if you have additional suggestions for new themes or examples of inclusive policies please get in touch with Megan at [email protected].

Suggested Actions/ Ideas

  1. Set up a Welcoming Committee made up of migrant students who can support others in their first few days and weeks and perhaps even help with interpretation. Can they give new students a tour of the college and/or local area? Ensure they have adequate training and support, for example offering basic interpretation training can help them develop additional skills and even open up other career pathways. Can they be responsible for doing a sanctuary audit every year?
  2. Set up a Sanctuary Champion/ Student Social Action Group and give them training and resources to develop their skills in civic engagement. Help them create opportunities to have their voice heard by their MP, the press and the public.
  3. Have regular (termly/annual) focus groups with newly arrived students to create a safe space for them to share their experiences and talk about the good and the challenging and help drive college development.
  4. Engage with important issues in the refugee space – set up a stall in the college foyer to inform and engage students and staff on sanctuary issues. For instance, can you get students to write a message of welcome on postcards to distribute to local refugee charities or display in college?

Empowering Student-Led Activities

Key resources

Oxfam Education – Youth Leadership Guidance and Suggested Activities

UNICEF/Roger Hart – Children’s Participation. From Tokenism to Participation

Oxfam et al – Get Global! A guide to active global citizenship for 11-16 year olds

Oxfam – Teaching Controversial Issues. A Guide for Teachers

Oxfam – Global Citizenship in the Classroom. A guide for Teachers

Oxfam et al – Schools for Future Youth. Skills Development

Amnesty International – Youth Activist Toolkit (How and who to lobby, how to write press releases and plenty more).

Amnesty International – Youth Activism Coaches (Support to set up your own Amnesty Youth Group in College)

UNICEF – Youth Advocacy Toolkit

Supporting Ethically Informed Student Citizenship

Key resources

(Learning resources, free workshops [online and in person] and more to help young people better understand structures of parliament, representation in UK and how policy is made)

(Learning resources, school visits, workshops and plenty more to help young people understand how democracy works in Wales)

(Learning resources and education sessions to learn how parliament works)

(Arrange a visit and use the wealth of resources to learn how the Northern Ireland Assembly works)

(A website to learn how your MP votes – helpful for students to know the perspectives of their MP before they write to or speak with them)

Event Recording

Watch the Empowering Student Voice and Leadership Event.

This event hears from people at Oxfam Campaigns and schools who have already developed some inspiring efforts in this area.

Case Studies and Presentations

Oxfam Education Presentation

https://cdn.cityofsanctuary.org/uploads/sites/159/2023/02/Schools-of-Sanctuary-CPD.pdf

Schools of Sanctuary – Empowering Student Voice and Leadership Presentation

https://cdn.cityofsanctuary.org/uploads/sites/159/2023/02/Empowering-Student-Voice-1.pdf