Four in 10 teachers reported encountering antisemitism among their students
Around three-quarters of teachers who hold lessons on the Holocaust in schools have heard students repeat mistruths they have read online, a new study has found.
Research by the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education also discovered that four in 10 teachers have encountered antisemitism.
Approximately one in six teachers said they came across students voicing Holocaust denial either ‘occasionally’ or ‘often’.
More than 1,200 secondary school teachers from across England who have responsibility for teaching about the Nazi genocide were questioned for the study.
One teacher explained that pupils are more likely to have heard the phrase ‘Holocaust denial’ now than when they started teaching.
The unnamed teacher from East Midlands said: “It often manifests itself in the questioning of the past – how do we know? Maybe its fake news, perhaps it wasn’t so bad, or the Jews are exaggerating. There are more conspiracy theories these days, so they mention it in relation to that.”
Another secondary school teacher from the North West said: “Increasingly, we see students asking questions that aren’t ‘outright denial’, which for most is ridiculous, but instead something akin to distortion or minimisation: ‘Was it really 6 million?”
Others reported that the Holocaust is being conflated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The authors of the research have called for more curriculum time to be allocated for the teaching of the Holocaust.
Since 1991, the Holocaust has been listed as statutory content to be taught in all secondary schools following the English national curriculum, within Key Stage 3 history.
Concerns have been raised after previous research by the UCL Centre for Holocaust suggested much more teaching about the atrocity is taking place with younger year groups than it was 10 years ago. This is despite teachers’ significant concerns that only older students – Year 9 and above – have either the necessary conceptual understanding or emotional maturity to fully engage with this history.
Professor Stuart Foster, executive director of the centre said: “Our research has repeatedly shown that teachers need time and space to teach this most challenging of subjects carefully and with the confidence that can only be generated by bespoke, research-informed, training.
“The rise and rise of online conspiracies and the proliferation of lies about the Holocaust make this even more urgent. Teachers must be given the support they need if they are to counter this malignant trend in the classroom.”
