Free volunteering with refugees course relaunched

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is relaunching its award-winning Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) which is designed to train volunteers and language teachers working with refugees. The free online course focuses on the skills needed to support the social and linguistic needs of refugees.

Volunteering with Refugees will launch on 30 May and will run for three weeks. The MOOC helps to develop the skills people need to volunteer in refugee communities. It focuses on the social and linguistic needs of refugees and gives volunteers an understanding of the backgrounds, current situations and needs of refugees from a wide range of contexts. This includes strategies and techniques for in and outside the classroom, with a specific focus on language support.

The free course, which will be delivered in partnership with FutureLearn, covers topics such as structuring learning, supporting learning with resources, working in a crisis classroom environment and understanding key linguistic and cultural differences.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine has displaced millions of people which has created a huge demand for learning support in countries across Europe," said Francesca Woodward, Global Managing Director for English at Cambridge University Press & Assessment. "There are also huge numbers of refugees elsewhere in the world who need language resources and additional learning support. The course has already helped thousands of volunteers, so we relaunched it as a contribution to the inspiring work being done by teachers all over the world to support refugees".

We relaunched this course as a contribution to the inspiring work being done by teachers all over the world to support refugees.

Volunteering with Refugees is developed by Cambridge University Press & Assessment in collaboration with The Human Hive, an organisation which provides training and support for Change Makers so they can co-create solutions to global problems with others and make a more welcoming, inclusive and sustainable world.

When the course was originally launched it was accessed by more than 8,000 people and it won the Alliance Excellence Award from the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals. The course is the latest in a raft of support measures from Cambridge, including a recent series of webinars to support English teachers helping those affected by the current crisis in Ukraine. This series explored the many aspects of teaching in a difficult setting including working with no textbooks and resources and supporting young learners who may have experienced trauma.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment, and its global network of partners, peers and collaborators, is working to support Ukrainians in line with our mission: to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research around the world. These efforts, including the many resources for teachers, students and researchers detailed here, are continually developing as the situation evolves.