Teaching about the Holocaust in English schools: challenges and possibilities

Abstract

This article presents some principal findings from the first comprehensive national study of Holocaust education in England, which was conducted by the University of London’s Institute of Education. More than 2000 teachers provided insight into their teaching about the Holocaust, including their perceptions, perspectives and practice. This article identifies what appears to be some of the key challenges and concerns teachers encounter when teaching this emotive and complex subject. The findings suggest that teachers both value and recognise the importance of teaching about the Holocaust to young people. However, more than 80% of teachers declared themselves to be ‘self-taught,’ having previously had no professional development or formal instruction in teaching about the Holocaust. The research also demonstrated: (1) considerable uncertainty about the best way to teach the subject; (2) some ambiguity over aims and definitions; (3) narrowly focused content coverage; and (4) a lack of in-depth subject knowledge among many teachers. A central finding is that teachers proved more likely to focus on what may be termed perpetrator-oriented narratives: narratives that focus on the actions of the Nazis and their collaborators and commonly positioned Jewish people and other groups as silent and anonymous victims without agency or influence.

Keywords:

• Holocaust education
• England
• teaching
• professional development
• curriculum

Notes

1.In 2009, researchers at the IOE’s Centre for Holocaust Education (formerly the Holocaust Education Development Programme) produced the 132-page national research study, teaching about the Holocaust in English Secondary Schools: An empirical study of national trends, perspectives and practice. The full report can be accessed at the centre’s website: www.ioe.ac.uk/holocaust

2.A useful overview to these debates in the USA is provided by Thomas Fallace, in chapter 7 of The emergence of Holocaust education in American schools, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008). Particular mention should also be given to the extensive research and evaluation completed by Facing History and Ourselves over the past 3 decades incorporating more than 100 academic studies and including the most recent and comprehensive evaluation of the program’s effectiveness authored by Dennis J. Barr: The Facing History and Ourselves National Professional Development and Evaluation Project (NPDEP).

3.In direct response to a recognised need to improve Holocaust ducation in England, in 2008 the Holocaust Education Development Programme (or HEDP) was established at the Institute of Education, University of London. Funded by the UK’s Department for Education and the Pears Foundation (a UK charitable trust), the HEDP was directed to achieve 2 interrelated goals. First, to produce the first ever large-scale, national research study into teaching about the Holocaust. Second, to use this research-informed understanding of existing practice to design, develop and deliver a high quality national professional development programme for teachers who teach about the Holocaust. Details of the HEDP’s work (now the IOE Centre for Holocaust Education) in professional development can be found on the website: www.ioe.ac.uk/holocaust

4.To ensure that the study incorporated the views of as many secondary school teachers as possible all secondary teachers in England were invited to complete the open access online survey. Thus, a national, cross-subject publicity campaign was launched to raise teachers’ awareness of the survey and to encourage them to take part. The campaign included: direct engagement with a broad range of subject associations, local authorities, and educational networks; email contact with all secondary schools in England through a purchased electronic database; email contact with head teachers through Department for Education electronic newsletters; engagement with Holocaust organisations, museums, and agencies in the UK; coverage in national newspapers (e.g. the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Times Educational Supplement) and selective advertising in nationally circulated educational magazines and journals. In addition, the open invitation to all secondary school teachers was further supplemented by a more targeted approach. The targeted campaign included: direct email contact with heads of humanities in secondary schools in England; advertising in professional magazines and journals (e.g. Teaching History); direct email contact with 1500 named teachers listed as teaching citizenship, English, history, humanities, PSHE and RE; and direct engagement with relevant contacts and networks in targeted subject associations (e.g., citizenship, English, history, RE). Following extensive piloting, the final version of the survey was hosted online as part of the HEDP website. It remained live for a 13 week period and all submissions were submitted via the online survey (note: no teacher took the opportunity to request a paper copy of the survey to be submitted by post).

5.When completing the survey, it was possible for respondents to entirely skip any individual question. As a consequence, the total number of responses received fluctuated throughout the survey. Unless otherwise stated, the percentages presented in this report have been calculated from the total number of teachers who submitted any response to the pertinent question.

6.It is difficult to be precise on the exact percentage because some teacher comments are open to interpretation. Nevertheless, based on careful analysis it is reasonable to place this figure at between 25 and 30%.

7.Kristallnacht (sometimes also referred to or the ‘Night of Broken Glass) is a euphemism for the more accurate and more appropriate term: November Pogrom.

8.Teachers also identified the Internet as a potentially problematic resource. Frequently they noted that students could be very indiscriminating in the websites they chose to visit and expressed concern that this exposed them to positions of Holocaust denial.

9.In December 2012 the Taskforce for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF) was renamed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The organisation was originally initiated by Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson in 1998. The IHRA is an intergovernmental body supported by 31 member states and observer countries whose purpose is to place political and social leaders’ support behind the need for Holocaust education, remembrance, and research both nationally and internationally. The IHRA has produced educational guidelines for teachers which cover five primary areas including recommendations on ‘why, what and how to teach about the Holocaust’. The guidelines are internationally recognised as the key guiding principles for intelligent and sensitive Holocaust education (see, www.holocausttaskforce.org/).