Seeing inhumanity close up: what is gained by school students visiting Auschwitz?

Author(s):

Henry MaitlesPAULA COWAN

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

07 SES 10 A, Different Approaches to Citizenship Education

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-30

14:45-16:15

Room:

HG, HS 31

Chair:

Chris Gaine

Contribution

For the last decade the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) has organized visits for English school students and their teachers to Auschwitz. The visit is part of a process of raising awareness of the Holocaust in particular and genocide in general. The project, called Lessons From Auschwitz (LFA) , comprises of three components: an orientation session, a visit to Poland which includes the visit to Auschwitz and a follow-up session. At the end of the project, student participants are required to organise an appropriate school and/or local community event as a means of passing their learning on. In 2007, HET organised the first LFA project for Scottish schools. Its participants were two plane-loads of Scottish school students and teachers from across Scotland– typically two students from a school aged 16-17 years accompanied by a teacher. Unlike countries such as England, France and Germany, Holocaust education is not statutory in Scotland and its teaching largely depends upon teachers who choose to teach it. This meant that it was possible that students had participated in the LFA project with little or no prior knowledge of the Holocaust. In examining the issues that provide the background of this research, this paper looks beyond the Scottish perspective and considers the value of this experiential programme on the wider UK, European and world contexts. The research questions we set ourselves were: • How were students chosen to participate in this project? • Had students learned of the Holocaust prior to the visit? • What were students’ perceptions of the LFA project? • What impact did the visit have on the individuals, the schools and their local communities?

Method

Our chosen methodology was • an online questionnaire to students who participated in the LFA visit in 2007. Data was received from 105 students (which represented over 40%) from those authorities who had agreed to participate. • We followed this up with a small number of semi-structured interviews to deepen our understanding of the value of the visits. These are currently (January 25, 2009) ongoing and will be concluded by Easter.

Expected Outcomes

Our findings (so far) suggest: • The most academic students in the school studying Social Subjects made up the pupil cohort; most were chosen. • Most students had learned about the Holocaust at school prior to the visit • Students and teachers were deeply moved by the visit. There was clear evidence of personal development. • Students perceived that the visit had contributed to their understanding of human rights and genocide as well as antisemitism and WW2. • Students took their responsibilities on return very seriously and organized a wide range of events , both for their school and for their community. • The LFA Project led to significant extra teaching of the Holocaust in Scottish schools.

References

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Author Information

Henry Maitles

University of Strathclyde Faculty of Education

Curricular Studies

Glasgow

PAULA COWAN

UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND

AYR

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