Bring your English lessons to life by exploring how inequality and poverty affect the lives of young people in different parts of the world, including the UK. Created in partnership with Oxfam GB and with the support of teacher subject associations, these teaching resources include a wide range of participatory activities to engage learners (age 11 to 16) with the wider world and help them make links between the local and the global. More or Less Equal? has separate sessions in geography, maths and English which can be used in both a subject-specific and cross-curricular way. In all subject areas, learners will explore how inequality and poverty affect the lives of children in different parts of the world, including the UK.

Interpret and communicate geographical information, including qualitative and quantitative data and maps. Understand similarities and differences between places as well as key processes in human geography. More or Less Equal? is based on data gathered in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Viet Nam by Young Lives, an international research project exploring the effects of poverty on young people for 15 years.

More or Less Equal? can be downloaded from the Oxfam Youth and Education website. It includes the following sessions:

Teachers’ overview: Includes an introduction, a detailed resource outline and a template for learners to record their key learning from each session. Background notes for teachers: Further information about inequality, Young Lives and the four Young Lives study countries (Ethiopia, India, Peru and Viet Nam). Introduction: Welcome to Young Lives: Consider what development and inequality mean and meet the young people featured in 'More or Less Equal?' Introduction: Thinking about the Sustainable Development Goals: An optional activity to investigate the Sustainable Development Goals and think critically about the goal themes. Session 1: Where in the World?: Play Globingo. Locate the four Young Lives countries and use the Internet and photographs to investigate them in more detail. Session 2: Between-country gaps: Explore what development means and different ways of measuring it. Play 'Development Trumps', and shade world maps to illustrate between-country inequalities. Session 3: Mapping inequalities: Draw and compare mental maps of your own locality with those of some Young Lives communities. Compare and discuss distances to amenities. Session 4: The education gap: Investigate education gaps within India and between India and the UK. Explore the differences in education funding between India and the UK. Session 5: The health gap: Create infographics to compare health and health care in Ethiopia, Viet Nam and the UK. Solve a mystery about why a young person in Viet Nam cannot access good health care. Session 6: The UK gap: Learn about absolute and relative poverty and investigate what it means to live in (relative) poverty in the UK. Use a consequences wheel to think critically about these impacts of poverty. Session 7: Changes over time: Investigate some changes that have taken place during the 15 years of the Young Lives project, from 2000 to 2015. Reflect on these and then consider probable and desirable futures. Comparing development indicators: An Excel spreadsheet of the ‘Development Trumps’ data for learners to use. Geography Slideshow A: For use with Geography sessions 1–3. Geography Slideshow B: For use with Geography sessions 4–7 Reflecting and sharing: Think critically about what can be done to tackle extreme inequality in our world. Reflect on learning about poverty and inequality and work with others to plan an activity to share learning with others.