Students step into the shoes of another child by imagining what it is like to face barriers to education. At the end of the activity, the more privileged children have literally moved forward (stepped out), while the less privileged have stayed put.

Process

1. Ask students line-up on one side of the classroom (there should be enough space for students to walk around twenty steps forward).

2. Explain to students that they are going to be asked to ‘step into someone else's shoes'. They will be told who they are going to be and they will need to use their imagination to respond to questions as that person.

3. Hand out the role cards (see Stepping Out: Barriers to Education - Role Cards) at random, one to each student. At least three students should be handed cards that tell them to be themselves. Tell everyone to keep their roles secret.

4. Give students a chance to get into their roles. To help them create a picture of themselves in their roles, read out some of the following questions:

• What was your childhood like?
• Where do you live?
• How do you spend your time - in the morning, afternoon, evening?
• What kind of games do you play?
• What sort of work do your parents do?
• How much money do you earn each month?
• What do you do in your free time/during your holidays?
• What excites you and what are you afraid of?

5. Tell students that you are going to read out a list of situations or events (see Stepping Out: Barriers to Education - Situations & Events). Every time they can answer ‘yes' to the statement, they should take a step forward. Otherwise, they should stay where they are and not move.

6. At the end, ask everyone to note their final positions relative to one another. Given students a couple of minutes to come out of their roles.

7. Alternatively, this is also an on-line activity where students select a role and go through the situations and events for each role as a quiz (not yet available on the site).

Extension

Students read out situations instead of the teacher.

Discussion Questions

• Ask students who stepped forward the most to read out their roles.
• Ask students who stepped forward the least (or not all) to read out their roles.
• How did you feel about the activity?
• How did you feel when some people were stepping forward but some people were not?
• Was it easy for you to step into your role?
• Do you think the situations reflect reality?
• What can be done to address inequalities?

This learning activity is based on the UNICEF Stepping Out activity