The Centre’s new research suggests that aspects of core knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust remain insecure, with many pupils struggling with basic questions about what happened, to whom, where and when.

Findings from the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education’s new study show progress in students’ knowledge and understanding compared with results from a previous national study in 2016.   However, the recent study also revealed persistent gaps and prevailing misconceptions – despite the Holocaust being part of every iteration of the National Curriculum since it was introduced in 1991.

In the Centre’s new research, 2,778 students across England responded to a survey. A series of multiple-choice questions were used to explore what they knew and understood about the Holocaust. The results showed that 73.0% of students correctly identified that six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Knowledge is this area had increased compared to 2016 when 56.8% answered this question correctly. Simialrly, basic chronological knowledge appeared to increase in the new study with 83.3% of students knowing the Holocaust occurred in the 1940s, compared to 70.1% who knew this information in 2016.

However, the research highlighted other areas where there were clear limitations in students’ knowledge and understanding. For instance, whilst students could place the Holocaust in the right decade, only 30.2% knew that systematic mass murder began after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Similarly, the majority of students (90%) did not know that less than 1% of the German population was Jewish in 1933; whilst half of students (52.1%) were unaware that Nazi-occupied Poland was the epicentre of the killings.

In accounting for these findings, the researchers highlighted numerous challenges that have arisen from the way that the Holocaust is framed within the National Curriculum. Whilst learning about the Holocaust has been mandatory in the history curriculum since 1991, there has never been clarity about what content should be covered, how it should be taught, or even what the purpose of teaching and learning about the Holocaust actually is. Although some might see this as a welcome absence of prescription, the reality is many teachers want more guidance and support on how they should teach a subject that is inherently challenging.

These findings are especially apposite given the recent Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis, which reaffirmed the importance of continuing to teach the Holocaust to every pupil in England. Whilst the ongoing presence of the Holocaust on the National Curriculum is undoubtedly positive news, the Centre’s research highlights the need to examine how the Holocaust is taught and how teachers can be best supported in this work. The necessity of high-quality Holocaust education is further underlined by the broader context in which students access information about the Holocaust.

The Centre’s new national study explored where and when students encounter the Holocaust beyond the history classroom. Numerous sources were cited, but in contrast to 2016, the role of information obtained on social media was apparent. For example, over half of students (59.4%) had come across online content about the Holocaust when they had not been searching for it, and of these students, 66.4% reported this happening on TikTok.

Focus groups with students provided insight into some problematic user-generated content they were seeing on social media. For instance, content that paired unrelated video game footage with voice over narration about the Holocaust. Students surmised this disturbing tactic was used to hold viewers’ attention, as the gameplay footage is visually stimulating, to maximise engagement.

One Year 9 student described how the technique works:

“It’s for, like, attention, it’s not really for entertainment…To grab your attention and keep you on the video and learn about the Holocaust.”

Another pupil explained how this kind of content can quickly dominate feeds once a single video has been watched:

“I’ve found just, like, a random video, before it has been the Holocaust, and I ended up searching it on TikTok, and I ended up like, scrolling, watching loads of videos.”

On a positive note, researchers found that many pupils actively drew on what they had learned in school to judge whether online material was credible. This further demonstrates the critical role of high-quality Holocaust education. Students described checking videos against their school workbooks, questioning whether content came from recognised organisations, and using classroom knowledge as a reference point when navigating online information. One Year 9 student explained:

“I’ll look through my [school] history book, and at the same time, I also look at the channel and think, is this just one random guy putting stuff onto his YouTube page, or is it like an association?”

The scrutiny that some students applied to potential online misinformation was similarly utilised when using AI chatbots. In the survey, nearly early two-thirds of students (62.1%) said they had little or no trust in AI chatbots. Moreover, the majority of students (86.1%) had not used an AI chatbot to learn about the Holocaust.

This year marks 35 years of Holocaust education being part of the National Curriculum, with its ongoing presence in the curriculum confirmed in the recent Curriculum and Assessment Review. However, the Centre’s research has highlighted a range of ongoing challenges which require urgent attention and is now convening a national conversation about Holocaust education. Academics and researchers at the Centre argue that the purpose of this national conversation is to revisit and review why we believe the Holocaust should be taught, what the aims of Holocaust education are, and how teaching and learning can respond to both the realities of the classroom and the world our students inhabit.

Dr Andy Pearce, Director of the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, said:

‘We welcome the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s affirmation that every student should learn about the Holocaust, and the government’s commitment to this significant ambition. But our latest research shines an uncomfortable light on the realities of students’ historical knowledge and understanding. Gaps in knowledge still persist, misconceptions still pervade. This is compelling evidence that change is required in how we think about Holocaust education, and how we go about it. That is why we are convening a research-informed national conversation about the issues in teaching and learning about the Holocaust that must no longer be ignored.’

 

Notes to editors

The research includes surveys of 2,778 secondary school students from 21 schools across England alongside focus groups with 58 pupils from six schools. The Centre’s wider research programme spans four national studies conducted between 2008 and 2025, involving over 12,000 students and 3,000 teachers.

About the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education

The UCL Centre for Holocaust Education is a world leader in research-informed teaching and learning about the Holocaust. Based at the award-winning UCL Institute of Education, the Centre provides a free national programme of professional development for teachers, together with innovative classroom resources. Through these means the Centre enhances teachers’ subject knowledge, improves their confidence, and expands their skillsets – enabling teachers to transform their teaching and their students’ learning. The Centre is supported by the Department for Education and the Pears Foundation.

• This document is the press release about the Centre’s research that was sent to The Times ahead of an article it published about Holocaust education on the 26 January.