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Holocaust Education in Primary Schools in the Twenty-First Century pp 145–164Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Diversity and Difference. Changing People’s Attitudes and Behaviours Through a School and Community Based Holocaust Education Project

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

Abstract

This chapter examines how teaching about the Holocaust can impact how people of difference are viewed in today’s society, where difference and diversity can be exploited to promote hatred and violence. The context for the chapter is the unique work undertaken by the National Holocaust Centre and Museum whereby pupils, parents, carers and other significant individuals from communities that experience high levels of hate crime and discrimination visit the centre and take part in a series of community-based workshops. Set against recent developments in Holocaust education research, key findings from this project are presented and a key focus on Holocaust education in primary schools explored—how learning about individual responsibilities during the Holocaust can challenge and change attitudes towards people of difference today.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Icarus, In Our Hands Project. The National Holocaust Centre. Final Evaluation Report, July 2015.

  2. 2.

    Diana I. Popescu, ‘Introduction: Memory and imagination in the post-witness era’, in Diana. I. Popescu and Tanja Schult (eds), Revisiting Holocaust Representation in the Post-Witness Era (Basingstoke, 2015), pp. 1–7, here p. 3.

  3. 3.

    Foreign & Commonwealth Office, International Task Force (2012). Country Report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2012); S. Hector, ‘Teaching the Holocaust in England’, in I. Davies (ed.), Teaching the Holocaust. Educational Dimensions, Principles and Practice (London, 2000), pp. 105–115.

  4. 4.

    Prime Minister, ‘Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission Report’, 27 January 2015. See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prime-ministers-holocaust-commission-report (accessed on 24.8.2015); Prime Minister, ‘Prime Minister pledges prominent Holocaust Memorial for Britain’, 27 January 2015. See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-pledges-prominent-holocaust-memorial-for-britain (accessed on 24 August 2015).

  5. 5.

    Institute of Education, Holocaust Education Development Programme, Teaching About the Holocaust in English Secondary Schools: An Empirical Study of National Trends, Perspectives and Practice (London, 2009); Stuart Foster, ‘Teaching about the Holocaust in English schools: challenges and possibilities’, Intercultural Education, 24 (2013), pp. 133–148.

  6. 6.

    Stuart Foster et al. (eds.), What do Students Know and Understand about the Holocaust? Evidence from English Secondary Schools (London, 2015).

  7. 7.

    Prime Minister, ‘Prime Minister pledges’.

  8. 8.

    Holocaust Educational Trust, ‘Holocaust Education in the UK’ (2015), see https://www.het.org.uk/about/holocaust-education-uk (accessed on 17 August 2015).

  9. 9.

    Michael Gray, Teaching the Holocaust: Practical Approaches for Ages 11–18 (London, 2015).

  10. 10.

    Bert Pampel (ed.), Erschrecken – Mitgefühl – Distanz. Empirische Befunde über Schülerinnen und Schüler in Gedenkstätten und zeitgeschichtlichen Ausstellungen (Leipzig, 2011).

  11. 11.

    Now also see a chapter devoted to this in Paula Cowan and Henry Maitles, Understanding and Teaching Holocaust Education (London, 2016).

  12. 12.

    Henry Maitles and Paula Cowan, ‘Teaching the Holocaust in Primary Schools in Scotland: Modes, methodology and content’, Educational Review, 51 (3) (1999), pp. 263–271.

  13. 13.

    Vera Hanfland, Holocaust – ein Thema für die Grundschule? Eine empirische Untersuchung zum Geschichtsbewusstsein von Viertklässlern (Berlin, 2008), p. 221.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., p. 222.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., p. 221.

  16. 16.

    Ibid., p. 33 f.

  17. 17.

    Geoffrey Short, ‘Holocaust Education in the Primary School: Some Reflection on an Emergent Debate’, London Review of Education, 1 (2) (2003), pp. 119–129. Also see Samuel Totten, ‘Should there be Holocaust education for K-4 students? The answer is no’, Social Studies and the Young Learner, 12 (1999), pp. 36–39.

  18. 18.

    Harriet Lipman Sepinwall, ‘Incorporating Holocaust education into K-4 curriculum and teaching in the United States’, Social Studies and the Young Learner, 10 (1999), pp. 5–8.

  19. 19.

    Hanfland, Holocaust, esp. pp. 217–222. Also see Alexandra Flügel, “Kinder können das auch schon mal wissen …” Nationalsozialismus und Holocaust im Spiegel kindlicher Reflexions- und Kommunikationsprozesse (Opladen, 2009).

  20. 20.

    Henry Maitles, ‘What Type of Citizenship Education; What Type of Citizen?’, UN Chronicle, 50 (4) (2013); see http://unchronicle.un.org/article/what-type-citizenship-education-what-type-citizen/ (accessed on 9 August 2017).

  21. 21.

    Ibid.

  22. 22.

    Education Committee Hearing. Tuesday, 1 December 2015, 9:31–11:02; parliamentlive.tv: http://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/d786196e-87a6-491e-b5a2-799096b34531 (accessed on 5.12.2015).

  23. 23.

    Maitles, ‘What Type’.

  24. 24.

    Ibid.

  25. 25.

    E.g. see Cath Larkin, ‘Enacting children’s citizenship: Developing understandings of how children enact themselves as citizens through actions and Acts of citizenship’, Childhood, 21 (1) (2013), pp. 7–21; Madaleine Leonard, ‘Cildren’s Citizenship Education in Politically Sensitive Societies’, Childhood, 14 (4) (2007), pp. 487–503.

  26. 26.

    Bruce Carrington and Geoffrey. Short, ‘Holocaust Education, Anti-racism and Citizenship’, Educational Review, 49 (3) (1997), pp. 272–282, here p. 273.

  27. 27.

    Henry Maitles and Paula Cowan, ‘More open to diversity?: the longer term citizenship impact of learning about the Holocaust’, in Reflecting on Identities: Research, Practice and Innovation. Children’s Identity and Citizenship in Europe (London, 2008), pp. 521–530. Similarly, see Henry Maitles, ‘“Why are we learning this?”: Does studying the Holocaust encourage better citizenship values?’, Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, 3 (3) (2008), pp. 341–352; Paula Cowan and Henry Maitles, ‘Does addressing prejudice and discrimination through Holocaust education produce better citizens?’, Educational Review, 59 (2) (2007), pp. 115–130; Henry Maitles and Paula Cowan, Never Again! Does Holocaust Education Have an Effect on Pupils’ Citizenship Values and Attitudes?, Scottish Executive Social Research, 2006. Also see Miriam Ben-Peretz, ‘Identifying with horror: Teaching about the Holocaust’, Curriculum Inquiry, 33 (2) (2003), pp. 189–198; Geoffrey Short, ‘Holocaust Education and Citizenship: a view from the United Kingdom’, in Mal Leicester, Celia Modgil and Sohan Modgil (eds.), Education, Culture and Values (London, 2000); Margot Brown and Ian Davies, ‘The Holocaust and education for citizenship’, Educational Review, 50 (1998), pp. 75–83; Carrington and Short, Holocaust Education; Short and Carrington, ‘Antisemitism’; Short and Carrington, ‘Unfair’.

  28. 28.

    Maitles and Cowan, ‘More open’, p. 525 f.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., p. 528.

  30. 30.

    HM Government, Prevent Strategy (2011); HM Government, Challenge it, Report it, Stop it. The Government’s Plan to Tackle Hate Crime (2012).

  31. 31.

    Icarus, In Our Hands Project.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., p. 3.

  33. 33.

    Ibid., p. 5.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., p. 46.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., p. 5 f.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., p. 7.

  37. 37.

    For details see ibid., pp. 8–11.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., p. 9.

  39. 39.

    For details see ibid., pp. 12–31.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., p. 12 f.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., p. 41 ff; see Sarai Blincoe and Monica Harris, ‘Prejudice reduction in white students – comparing three conceptual approaches’, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2 (4) (2009), pp. 232–242; Ismail Demircioglu, ‘Using historical stories to teach tolerance: The experiences of Turkish eighth-grade students’, The Social Studies, 99 (3) (2008), pp. 105–110; Andrea Dottolo and A. Stewart, ‘I never think about my race: Psychological features of white racial identities’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 10 (1) (2012), pp. 102–117; Frances E. Aboud and Anna-Beth Doyle, ‘Parental and peer influences on children’s racial attitudes’, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 20 (3–4) (1996), pp. 371–383; Allard R. Feddes, Peter Noack and Adam Rutland, ‘Direct and Extended friendship effects on minority and majority children’s interethnic attitudes: A longitudinal study’, Child Development, 80 (2) (2009), pp. 377–390; Miriam E. Hill and Martha Augoustinos, ‘Stereotype change and prejudice reduction – short and long term evaluation of a cross-cultural awareness programme’, Journal of Community and Applied Psychology, 11 (2001), pp. 234–262; Jeffrey D. Holmes, ‘Transparency of self-report racial attitude scales’, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 31 (2009), pp. 95–101; Gerard Lemos, The search for tolerance – Challenging and changing racist attitudes and behaviours in young people (York, 2005); Stepahnie Taylor, ‘Attitudes’, in Darren Langdridge and Stephanie Taylor (eds.), Critical Readings in Social Psychology (Maidenhead, 2007).

  42. 42.

    Icarus, In Our Hands Project, p. 41.

  43. 43.

    Ibid.

  44. 44.

    Ibid.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., p. 31; see full report for evidence and examples.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., p. 31.

  47. 47.

    Ibid., p. 24.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., p. 29.

  49. 49.

    Ibid., p. 31.

  50. 50.

    Ibid., p. 21.

  51. 51.

    Geoffrey Short, ‘Reluctant learners? Muslim youth confront the Holocaust’, Intercultural Education, 24 (2013), pp. 121–32.

  52. 52.

    Hill and Augoustinos, ‘Stereotype’; Blincoe and Harris, ‘Prejudice’.

  53. 53.

    Icarus, In Our Hands Project, p. 12.

  54. 54.

    Ibid., p. 32–44.

  55. 55.

    Ibid., p. 6.

  56. 56.

    Ibid., p. 40.

  57. 57.

    Ibid., p. 42.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., pp. 20, 22.

  59. 59.

    Ibid., p. 50.

  60. 60.

    Ibid., p. 29.

  61. 61.

    Ibid., p. 29.

  62. 62.

    Elke Gryglewski, ‘Teaching about the Holocaust in multicultural societies: appreciating

    the learner’, Intercultural Education, 21 (2010), pp. 41–49; Dienke Hondius, ‘Finding common ground in education about the Holocaust and slavery’, Intercultural Education, 21 (1) (2010), pp. 61–69; Barry van Drill and Lutz van Dijk, ‘Diverse classrooms – opportunities and challenges’, Intercultural Education, 21 (2010), pp. 1–5.

  63. 63.

    Short, ‘Reluctant’.

  64. 64.

    Gryglewksi, ‘Teaching’, p. 48.

  65. 65.

    Van Drill and Van Dijk, ‘Diverse’, pp. 1–3.

  66. 66.

    Icarus, In Our Hands Project, p. 42.

  67. 67.

    Blincoe and Harris, ‘Prejudice’.

  68. 68.

    Van Drill and Van Dijk, ‘Diverse’, p. 3.

  69. 69.

    Hill & Augoustinos, ‘Stereotype’.

  70. 70.

    Icarus, In Our Hands Project, p. 41.

  71. 71.

    Louise B. Jennings, ‘Challenges and possibilities of Holocaust education and critical citizenship: An ethnographic study of a fifth-grade bilingual class revisited’, Prospects, 40 (2010), pp. 35–56.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK

    Claus-Christian W. Szejnmann

  2. University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Gary Mills

  3. National Holocaust Centre and Museum, Nottingham, UK

    James Griffiths

  4. Nottingham Trent University (NTU), Nottingham, UK

    Bill Niven

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  1. Claus-Christian W. Szejnmann
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  2. Gary Mills
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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

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Szejnmann, CC.W., Mills, G., Griffiths, J., Niven, B. (2018). Diversity and Difference. Changing People’s Attitudes and Behaviours Through a School and Community Based Holocaust Education Project. 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_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73099-8_9

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