Ready-to-teach History lesson on Irish migration to Britain, using real census evidence to develop historical enquiry and source analysis skills.

This enquiry-led lesson asks:

What can sources tell us about Irish migration to Britain?

Pupils investigate Irish migration during the nineteenth century, beginning with the Irish Famine as a major push factor before exploring what happened to migrant families after arriving in Britain.

At the heart of the lesson is a hands-on historical enquiry using census records. Pupils learn what a census is and what historians can discover from it before examining records of Irish-born people and families living in Britain.

Using the census evidence, pupils investigate where migrants lived, family structures, places of birth and occupations. They then use their findings to make historical inferences about when families migrated, employment and what life may have been like for Irish migrants in Britain.

Resource includes:

Ready-to-teach lesson PowerPoint
Clear historical enquiry question
Irish Famine and migration context
Introduction to census records as historical sources
Census source investigation
Local history links through Kent census evidence
Structured source-analysis questions
Historical inference and discussion
Push-factor retrieval
Think Pink assessment/plenary

A strong lesson for developing sources of evidence, historical enquiry, inference and chronological understanding while exploring the experiences of real migrant families.

Part of a wider enquiry-led Migration Through British History unit, but designed to work as a standalone lesson.