Every secondary school is to get a Holocaust specialist to ensure that the subject is taught comprehensively and sensitively.
One teacher from every school will be offered a place on a Holocaust education training course to combat racism and intolerance.
One in ten of those who take the course will also be able to take a master’s degree module in Holocaust education, as part of a £1.5 million scheme run by the Institute of Education.
Teachers will discuss parts of the subject that they find difficult to teach and work on lesson plans with experts on how to broach the issue.
Stuart Foster, director of the project, said: “There are increasing concerns in society about intolerance and racism. The BNP is coming to the forefront, and there’s increased anti-Semitism.”
The initiative is designed to maintain awareness of the Nazi’s systematic massacre of the Jews during the Second World War as survivor numbers dwindle, Times Educational Supplement reports.
The project will launch on Sunday, the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht — the night in 1938 when 91 Jews were killed, 30,000 were arrested and 191 synagogues were destroyed marking the beginning of the Nazi’s genocide of the Jewish people.
Ruth-Anne Lenga, education consultant at the Jewish Museum, said that the Holocaust was often covered very briefly by schools despite being on the school curriculum. “It could be the emotiveness of the subject worries teachers, or it raises difficult moral challenges and questions. We want to ensure there’s support.”
The project will coincide with a survey testing teachers’ knowledge of the subject and their teaching methods. It will ask teachers for their definition of “Holocaust” and whether they think teaching children about it is important.
The scheme is part of a wider Holocaust education project funded by the Government and the Pears Foundation charity. It is supported by the Holocaust Education Trust, which this year received £1.5 million from the Government to send two sixth-formers from every school to Auschwitz.
by Joanna Sugden
Source > TIMES online
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