Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Transformative Transition: The Case for Religious Education in Cross-Curricular Holocaust Education Across the Primary/Secondary Divide in English Schools

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Holocaust Education in Primary Schools in the Twenty-First Century

Part of the book series: The Holocaust and its Contexts ((HOLC))

Abstract

Richardson explores the relationship between religious education (RE) and Holocaust education in England. He considers the unique nature of RE in the curriculum and the opportunities it provides to host discussions about a sensitive issue such as the Holocaust. Richardson reviews contemporary research and thinking around Holocaust education in England and concludes by proposing a tripartite approach (after Pestalozzi) of Holocaust education as involving ‘head, heart and hands’. He suggests that effective Holocaust education involves knowledge about Judaism, emotional engagement with those affected by the Holocaust and actional/pre-dispositional responses to the event.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Ronald Gould, Chalk Up the Memory (Birmingham, 1976), p. 99.

  2. 2.

    Michael Barber, The Making of the 1944 Education Act (London, 1994), p. 3.

  3. 3.

    Julian Stern, ‘RE and School Effectiveness’, REsource – The Journal of the Professional Council for Religious Education, 23 (1) (2000), pp. 8–14, here p. 3.

  4. 4.

    See for example Jerry Wellington (ed.), Controversial Issues in the Curriculum (Basingstoke, 1986); Bruce Carrington and Barry Troyna, (eds.), Children & Controversial Issues (London, 1988);

    Chris Oulton, ‘Reconceptualizing the Teaching of Controversial Issues’, International Journal of Science Education, 26 (4) (2004), pp. 411–423; Paula Cowan and Henry Maitles, (eds.), Teaching Controversial Issues in the Classroom – Key Issues and Debates (London, 2012).

  5. 5.

    Robert Stradling, ‘Controversial Issues in the Curriculum’, in Robert Stradling, Michael Noctor and Bridget Baines (eds.), Teaching Controversial Issues (London, 1984), p. 1.

  6. 6.

    HMSO, ‘Education Act 1996’, p. 231; see http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acts/1996-education-act.pdf. (accessed on 1.9.2016).

  7. 7.

    QCA, Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools (Final Report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship (QCA, 1998), p. 56.

  8. 8.

    Ralph Levinson, ‘Towards a Theoretical Framework for Teaching Controversial Socio-scientific Issues’, International Journal of Science Education, 28 (10) (2006), pp. 1201–1224, here p. 248.

  9. 9.

    QCA, Education for citizenship, p. 57.

  10. 10.

    Alice Pettigrew, Stuart Foster, Jonathan Howson, Paul Salmons (eds.), Teaching About the Holocaust in English Secondary Schools: An Empirical Study of National Trends, Perspectives and Practice (London, 2009).

  11. 11.

    See for example Margot Brown and Ian Davies, ‘The Holocaust and Education for Citizenship: The teaching of history, religion and human rights in England’, Educational Review, 50 (1) (1998), pp. 75–83; Susan Hector, ‘Teaching the Holocaust in England’, in Ian Davies (ed.), Teaching The Holocaust – Educational Dimensions, Principles and Practice (London, 2000), pp. 105–115; Wolfgang Althof and Marvin W. Berkowitz, ‘Moral Education and Character Education: Their relationship and roles in citizenship education’, Journal of Moral Education, 35 (4) (2006), pp. 495–518.

  12. 12.

    Deidre Burke, ‘Death and the Holocaust: The challenge to learners and the need for support’, Journal of Beliefs & Values, 24 (1) (2003), pp. 53–65.

  13. 13.

    Margo Brown and Ian Davies ‘The Holocaust and Education’.

  14. 14.

    Alasdair Richardson, ‘Holocaust education: An investigation into the types of learning that take place when students encounter the Holocaust’ (Brunel University Research Archive, 2012), pp. 1–228.

  15. 15.

    Sue Foster, and Carrie Mercier, ‘Teaching the Holocaust Through Religious Education’, in Ian Davies (ed.), Teaching the Holocaust – Educational Dimensions, Principles and Practice (London, 2000), pp. 25–36, here p. 29.

  16. 16.

    Susan Hector, ‘Teaching the Holocaust in England’, p. 109.

  17. 17.

    Deidre Burke, ‘Death and the Holocaust’, p. 54.

  18. 18.

    See for example Robert Stradling, ‘Controversial Issues in the Curriculum’. In Teaching Controversial Issues, edited by Robert Stradling, Michael Noctor and Bridget Baines (Melbourne, 1984), pp. 1–12. QCA, Education for Citizenship (London, 1998); Christopher Oulton ‘Reconceptualizing the Teaching of Controversial Issues’, International Journal of Science Education, 26 (4) (2004), pp. 411–423.

  19. 19.

    QCA, Education for Citizenship.

  20. 20.

    Claire Renzetti and Raymond Lee (eds.), Researching Sensitive Topics (London, 1993).

  21. 21.

    Pam Lowe, ‘Lessening Sensitivity: Student experiences of teaching and learning sensitive issues’, Teaching in Higher Education, 20 (1) (2015), pp. 119–129, here p. 123.

  22. 22.

    See for example: Alice Pettigrew, et al., Teaching About the Holocaust in English Secondary Schools; Paula Cowan and Henry Maitles, Teaching Controversial; Alasdair Richardson, ‘Holocaust Education’; Paula Cowan, ‘Reconceptualising the Holocaust and Holocaust education in countries that escaped Nazi occupation: a Scottish perspective’, Intercultural Education, 24 (1–2) (2013) pp. 167–179; Stuart Foster, ‘Teaching about the Holocaust in English schools: challenges and possibilities’, Intercultural Education, 24 (1–2) (2013), pp. 133–148; Michael Gray, Contemporary Debates in Holocaust Education (Basingstoke, 2014); Stuart Foster, et al. (eds.), What Do Students Know and Understand About the Holocaust? Evidence from English Secondary schools (London, 2016).

  23. 23.

    USHMM, An Overview of the Holocaust: Topics to teach (2016); https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007262 (accessed on 1.9.2016).

  24. 24.

    See for example: Geoffrey Short, ‘Teaching the Holocaust: Some Reflections on a Problematic Area’, British Journal of Religious Education, 14 (1) (1991), pp. 28–34; Geoffrey Short, ‘The Holocaust in the National Curriculum: A survey of teachers’ attitudes and practices’, Journal of Holocaust Education, 4 (2) (1995), pp. 167–188; Geoffrey Short, ‘Holocaust Education in Ontario High Schools: An antidote to racism?’, Cambridge Journal of Education, 30 (2) (2000), pp. 291–305; Geoffrey Short, ‘Learning from Genocide? A Study in the Failure of Holocaust Education’, Intercultural Education, 16 (4) (2005), pp. 367–380.

  25. 25.

    Henry Maitles and Paula Cowan, ‘Pedagogical Issues in Teaching the Holocaust’, in Paula Cowan and Henry Maitles, Teaching Controversial Issues, pp. 120–129.

  26. 26.

    Lucy Russell, Teaching the Holocaust in School History (London, 2008).

  27. 27.

    Chris Husbands, Alison Kitson, Anna Pendry C., Understanding History Teaching: Teaching and Learning about the Past in Secondary Schools (Oxford, 2003).

  28. 28.

    Geoffrey Short, Geoffrey, ‘Antiracist education and moral behaviour: Lessons from the Holocaust’, Journal of Moral Education, 28 (1) (1998), pp. 49–62.

  29. 29.

    Geoffrey Short, ‘Failing to Learn From the Holocaust’, in Zehavit Gross and E. Doyle Stevick (eds.), As the Witnesses Fall Silent: 21st Century Holocaust Education in Curriculum, Policy and Practice (New York, 2015), pp. 455–468, here p. 459.

  30. 30.

    Alice Pettigrew, Teaching About the Holocaust in English Secondary Schools.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., p. 73.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., p. 72.

  33. 33.

    Geoffrey Short, ‘Confronting the Holocaust in Religious Education’, Journals of Beliefs & Values, 22 (1) (2001), pp. 41–54, here p. 41.

  34. 34.

    Ian Gregory, ‘Teaching about the Holocaust: Perplexities, issues and suggestions’, in Ian Davies (ed.) Teaching the Holocaust – Educational Dimensions, Principles and Practice (London, 2000), pp. 49–60, here p. 54.

  35. 35.

    Alasdair Richardson, ‘Holocaust Education’.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., p. 66.

  37. 37.

    Ibid.

  38. 38.

    Deidre Burke, ‘Death and the Holocaust’.

  39. 39.

    Alasdair Richardson, ‘Holocaust Education’.

  40. 40.

    Robert Stradling, ‘Controversial Issues in the Curriculum’.

  41. 41.

    IHRA, What to Teach About the Holocaust; https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/node/318 (accessed on 1.9.2016).

  42. 42.

    See for example: Sue Foster and Carrie Mercier, ‘Teaching the Holocaust Through Religious Education’; Michael Gray, ‘Exploring pupil perceptions of Jews, Jewish identity and the Holocaust’, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 12 (3) (2013), pp. 419–435; USHMM, ‘An Overview of the Holocaust’.

  43. 43.

    Geoffrey Short, ‘Teaching the Holocaust’, p. 403.

  44. 44.

    Geoffrey Short, ‘Antiracist Education and Moral Behaviour: Lessons from the Holocaust’, Journal of Moral Education, 28 (1) (1999), pp. 49–62, here p. 56.

  45. 45.

    Tony Kushner, ‘Too Little, Too Late? Reflections on Britain’s Holocaust Memorial Day’, The Journal of Israeli History, 23 (1) (2004), pp. 116–129, here p. 117.

  46. 46.

    Monique Eckmann, ‘Exploring the relevance of Holocaust education for human rights education’, Prospects, 40 (1) (2010), pp. 7–16.

  47. 47.

    HMDT, ‘Don’t Stand By: 2016 and beyond’; see http://hmd.org.uk/sites/default/files/holocaust_memorial_day_2017_in_review.pdf (accessed 1.9.2016).

  48. 48.

    See, for example Paula Cowan, ‘Reconceptualising the Holocaust’.

  49. 49.

    Dalia Ofer, ‘The Past That Does Not Pass: Israelis and Holocaust memory’, Israel Studies, 14 (1) (2009), pp. 1–35.

  50. 50.

    Alexander Karn, ‘Toward a Philosophy of Holocaust Education: Teaching values without imposing agendas’, The History Teacher, 45 (2) (2012), pp. 221–240.

  51. 51.

    Maria Harris, ‘Teaching the Null Curriculum: The Holocaust’, British Journal of Religious Education, 11 (3) (1989), pp. 136–138, here p. 137

  52. 52.

    Monique Eckmann, ‘Exploring the relevance of Holocaust education’.

  53. 53.

    Ibid., p. 14.

  54. 54.

    Alexander Karn, ‘Toward a philosophy of Holocaust education’.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Winchester, Winchester, UK

    Alasdair Richardson

Authors
  1. Alasdair Richardson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom

    Claus-Christian W. Szejnmann

  2. University of the West of Scotland, Ayr, United Kingdom

    Paula Cowan

  3. National Holocaust Centre and Museum, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    James Griffiths

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Richardson, A. (2018). Transformative Transition: The Case for Religious Education in Cross-Curricular Holocaust Education Across the Primary/Secondary Divide in English Schools. In: Szejnmann, CC., Cowan, P., Griffiths, J. (eds) Holocaust Education in Primary Schools in the Twenty-First Century. The Holocaust and its Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73099-8_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73099-8_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73098-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73099-8

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation