The call has come from MPs on the Education Select Committee who also warn that not enough teachers are receiving Holocaust education training.
The MPs’ report has been published this week to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place annually on January 27.
MPs praised what they describe as a “wealth of good practice and enthusiasm” in Holocaust education. Their report states: “Teachers are taking students beyond facts to a deeper understanding of what it means to be an active and informed citizen.”
However, too few teachers, particularly history teachers, are being trained to teach the Holocaust they warn – with MPs referencing research from 2009 showing that 80 per cent of teachers of the Holocaust are self-taught.
The report continues: “While much of the training available for teachers is of a high standard, more needs to be done to extend its reach to subjects other than history. The Holocaust should remain part of the core history curriculum, and we believe that the teaching of the Holocaust would be strengthened by the adoption of a deliberately cross-curricular approach.”
It calls on the Department for Education to support the organisations it funds to deliver Holocaust education to more history teachers and to consider how training could be extended to teachers of other subjects too.
The report states: “Some evidence we received suggested that Holocaust education would be strengthened by the adoption of a cross-curricular approach, starting with history and religious education, but possibly extending to other subjects such as philosophy, English, drama or PSHE.”
Elsewhere, MPs stressed the importance of hearing the personal testimony of Holocaust survivors and the report calls for the government to support efforts to “preserve the words of Holocaust survivors for future generations”.
MPs also praised the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s (HET) Lessons from Auschwitz programme, which takes sixth-formers to the Nazi concentration and death camps. Since 1999, more than 28,000 students and teachers have taken part in the initiative.
The report says that the government should consider giving more young people the opportunity to visit Auschwitz via this programme.
However, it also warns that too heavy a focus on Auschwitz could risk giving “an overly simplistic account of the Holocaust” and, as such, it says that visits to other sites associated with the Holocaust “might also be encouraged”, including places such as Wannsee, Sachsenhausen or Ravensbrück.
Committee chairman Neil Carmichael MP said: “Teaching young people about the Holocaust and its legacy continues to be a vital part of their education. In the course of our inquiry, we heard from a number of inspiring witnesses who help to explain the nature, scale and significance of the Holocaust to students in classrooms today.
“We heard of some excellent and engaging teaching which serves to deepen young people’s understanding and knowledge of the Holocaust.
“However, too few teachers, particularly history teachers, are being trained to teach the Holocaust and our report calls on the government to act. We expect the Department for Education to ensure the support it gives to Holocaust education is as effective as possible.”
Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said that teaching about the Holocaust “helps to develop an understanding of history, social justice and the prejudices which continue to blight societies around the world”.
The NUT and the HET recently produced teaching materials aimed at secondary school pupils. Mosaic – Victims of Nazi Persecution is a collection of case studies focusing on the Nazis’ persecution of different groups of people.
Ms Blower added: “As with all subjects it is important that teachers have the proper training to be able to deliver the most effective lessons. Too often professional development is lost through cost-saving exercises. This really needs to be addressed.”
The MPs’ report, Holocaust Education, can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/1KxEW97
For more on Lessons from Auschwitz, visit www.het.org.uk/lessons-from-auschwitz-programme
For the NUT/HET resource, can be found at www.teachers.org.uk/teachingresources/holocaust