Please be aware that the Passage roadshow is currently unavailable. If you would like any further information please contact the Baca Project directly via their online contact form.

The day-long roadshow comprises four main elements:

Identity & Asylum Lessons

Students work in groups during the morning as our initial lessons are used to support the school’s own teaching with specific and pertinent examples from the field in which we have experience.

The initial more structured lesson time sets out the main issues and directly considers how they relate to the lives of the students. A mixture of presentation styles, videos, games and group work is used to explore:

- what forms our identity and how we develop a sense of belonging;
- how change and transition can affect these values both in our lives and in the lives of others;
- how we perceive others in our society, considering how we arrive at these perceptions;
- why we should value life and individuals and think beyond initial labels and situations;
- why we form certain opinions and how we can challenge them; and
- what we mean by the terms ‘refugee’ and ‘asylum seeker’ and why people migrate.

The Refugee Experience

After break, students participate in ‘The Refugee Experience’ – an interactive session enabling young people to experience and critically review the plight of forced migrants who arrive in the UK.

Based on our own tried and tested events together with UNHCR resources, Passage is a powerful, experiential learning exercise. Commencing with the news that their own country, indeed their own town is under attack, teams of students are guided through their own simulated journey of asylum.

After being forced to leave their own country, decide what to pack and endure the back of a lorry, they arrive in Abelesia and are immediately challenged by officials speaking an unknown foreign language and demonstrating a strange culture. In immigration some of the students find their claim accepted while many are rejected.

In subsequent discussion groups the students are encouraged to talk through their observations and emotions. This session provides an excellent opportunity for the young people to evaluate how the bigger issues surrounding asylum affect the individual.

Interview with an Asylum Seeker

The room always falls silent as a young man, who has arrived in the UK, tells his life story. His account of fleeing his home, fearing for his life and seeing friends and family killed is an invaluable part of the day. It is a story which generally leaves students visibly moved but enthusiastic to ask questions and learn more.

The interview is used as a catalyst for students to reflect on times of change within their lives before the morning is wrapped up with some more academic teaching about where asylum seekers generally come from and a final group quiz to finish.

Afternoon Workshops

The morning’s sessions are consolidated through afternoon workshops. Art, drama, ICT & media sessions are run by recent graduates in these fields and provide a key forum in which students can discuss and express how the day has affected them.