Newsthink: teaching current affairs

Topical teaching resources exploring what is happening in the world, and the news, from a humanitarian perspective.

Our Newsthink resources are packed full of ideas for how to help young people learn about current affairs and the world around them with a humanitarian outlook. The resources use real-life examples through film clips, photographs, and stories linked to British current affairs and international news, prompting discussion and developing media literacy and critical thinking.

Browse our media literacy teaching resources and find out more about how to teach current affairs with a humanitarian approach.


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Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers give supplies to a family leaving Lebanon is a black car

Age: 10-19

Type: Quick activities

Subjects: PSHE, Tutor time

Free teaching resource to explore the impact on families displaced and separated by conflict, based on the ongoing conflict in Lebanon. 

  • Newsthink
  • Humanitarianism and the Red Cross
Newsthink_israel_OPT

Age: 10-19

Type: Quick activities

Subjects: Tutor time, PSHE

Learn about the rules of war and how they apply to the conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

  • Humanitarianism and the Red Cross
  • Disasters and emergencies
  • Newsthink
A thermostat in a window during a blazing hot day.

Age: 10-19

Type: Quick activity

Subjects: Geography, Tutor time, PSHE

Learn about the impact of heatwaves – in the UK and around the world – with this Newsthink resource. Explore how extreme heat affects individuals and communities.

  • Disasters and emergencies
  • First aid and the bystander effect
  • Humanitarianism and the Red Cross
A Red Cross volunteer wears a mask and carries a cardboard box outside a door to a building.

Age: 11-19

Type: Newsthink

Subjects: PSHE, Tutor time

A range of activities used to inform learners of the facts surrounding Covid-19 and encouraging reflection, critical thinking and positivity

  • Disasters and emergencies
  • Newsthink