Our latest Dialogues in Holocaust Education took a specific look at an issue that will be of issue to all teachers who teach about the Holocaust: what makes a good scheme of learning about the Holocaust?
For the session we were joined by Corey Soper, Lecturer in Holocaust Education at UCL’s Centre for Holocaust Education and two Beacon School lead teachers Anne Sutehall, Head of Humanities at Oakmoor School and from Samantha Griffiths, History teacher at Finham Park School.
Corey laid the ground for the session by posing a few questions that a teacher starting the planning process might seek to answer as a ‘way in’ to building a high-quality scheme of learning about the Holocaust. Corey made it clear a good scheme of learning might be different depending on the context of each school undertaking the process, focusing on different aims, rationale and outcomes that work for different cohorts. With that in mind he talked about a process rather than a prescriptive ‘one size fits all’ model. Corey then turned to, and explored in some depth, three key planning questions that teachers might ask themselves at the inception of the planning process:
- Why teach about the Holocaust? The rationale behind teaching about the Holocaust, the reasoning behind the belief that it is important that students learn about the topic in a discipline
- How to teach about the Holocaust? The pedagogical principles such as deepening knowledge, humanising the victims, challenging (mis)conceptions and so on
- What to teach about the Holocaust? The key knowledge that students must learn about the Holocaust.
Corey explained that thinking about, and answering the three questions, in sequence was the best way to ensure that students are presented with a rigorous scheme of learning that responds to the aims and outcomes that suit each school.
We then turned to Anne and Sam who gave granular insights into what the process of planning and implementing schemes of learning in their settings looked like.
Anne detailed the way in which context of her school influenced her Holocaust scheme of learning – relating how this had resulted in a deliberate focus on literacy throughout the sequence of eight lessons. Similarly, Anne spoke of the need to increase the engagement of parents and local community in the Holocaust education that her students undertook. The desire to make the scheme of learning stand out was also at the forefront of Anne’s mind when planning her scheme of learning. To this end, her Humanities team teach about the Holocaust at the same time, so that students received lessons within a two-week period in History, Geography and RE. The booklets that they complete are then posted home to ensure parental engagement as well.
Sam emphasised her aim of constructing a scheme of learning that foregrounded personal stories and looked to weave them into a series of lessons that offered depth and breadth of coverage of the Holocaust. The personal stories, of the likes of Leon Greenman, Harry Bibring and others also included the experiences of relatives of members of the student body, which gave added resonance and engagement to the scheme of learning.
Sam also explained the opportunities and challenges of including historical scholarship in a scheme of learning on the Holocaust. Whilst offering disciplinary insights the challenges of
selecting suitable material from the plethora of scholarship is not an easy one to surmount. Part of Sam’s approach in this area is to utilise the ‘story, source, scholarship’ template to help students get to grips with the work of historians in the field.
Finally, Anne and Sam each gave key pieces of advice to colleagues embarking on the process of building or rebuilding their scheme of learning on the Holocaust. Sam emphasised the need to expect it to be a lengthy process that would see changes made to lessons over a period of time and in reaction to new research and scholarship. Anne similarly advised teachers to take the process slowly, address issues one by one and to take the opportunity to visit Beacon Schools who have been through the process.
The words above can only give a flavour of the discussion that took place. Please do watch the recording of the session below to learn more about the very valuable insights that Corey, Anne and Sam offered.
