United Kingdom Country Report 2010: Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research

Abstract

The United Kingdom first submitted its Holocaust Education Country Report to the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research (ITF) in March 2006. At that point, the report reflected the best available information on teaching and learning about the Holocaust in UK universities and schools. However, in September 2009 an extensive empirical investigation of Holocaust education in England’s state maintained secondary schools was published by the Institute of Education (IOE), University of London. The publication of the report – which drew upon survey responses from 2,108 teachers across England and interview accounts from 68 teachers visited at 24 different schools – offered an invaluable opportunity to build upon and, where appropriate, revise the UK’s original submission. Consultations were held with representatives from each of the key Holocaust education organisations currently working in the UK (as detailed in Appendix 1) and additional research exercises were conducted as referred to throughout the report. This revision is not intended as the final say on Holocaust education in the UK. On the contrary, we recognise that practice in our schools and universities, and the popular understandings and policy landscapes which frame practice, are constantly changing. As we write at the close of 2010, the Government’s plans for education reform are a lot clearer after the recent publication of the White Paper, The Importance of Teaching, but there still remains some uncertainty about the impact of the recent change in national government at Westminster. For example, the English National Curriculum will be reviewed. The Government intend to restore the National Curriculum to its original purpose - a core national entitlement organised around subject disciplines. The development of subject knowledge will be central to the revised curriculum, and details of the review will be announced in the near future. The Government have stated that they would certainly expect any future programme of study for history to continue to include Holocaust education. Our resubmission is intended therefore to reflect the UK delegation’s commitment to critical reflection and reporting to the international community as an ongoing activity