Taking the organ donation message into the classroom
We’ve got together with teachers and clinicians to create free teaching resources about organ and tissue donation
Each year around 5,500 people die in circumstances where they could donate their organs. Yet on average three people a day die in need of a donated organ, because not enough people feel informed enough to say yes to organ and tissue donation.
We believe it’s important to educate everyone, and particularly young people about organ and tissue donation.
Working with teachers and clinicians, we have developed free teaching resources that are available to download here. The education pack is aimed at students aged between 11 and 16 (key stage 3 and 4).
The resources consist of three lesson plans and a condensed summary lesson, each linking to the Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Science elements of the National Curriculum.
The lesson plans include student activity sheets with accompanying videos and real-life stories from different perspectives and experiences of organ and tissue donation, along with engaging classroom activities for pupils to work through together.
Get involved
We have also produced a template letter that you can adapt to send to schools in your area to encourage them to use the resources in their lesson planning. This letter can also be amended to send to education leads in your local councils.
Do you have a teacher in the family or amongst your friends? Perhaps you are in a parent group or you are a volunteer who could approach teachers through your community.
By working together, we can encourage schools to use our teaching resources in their classrooms to educate young people about organ and tissue donation, so they feel informed to make important decisions in the future. We hope that these lessons will not only educate and prompt debate amongst students themselves, but also encourage students to go home and discuss this important subject with their families.
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