Support for RE teachers in teaching about the Holocaust

A message from Teacher Training Team, Holocaust Educational Trust:

As teachers and students return to school for the new academic year, we are writing to ask you to share (with RE teachers in your SACRE area) details of the Holocaust Educational Trust's educational programmes for primary and secondary school teachers and trainees. Details of these programmes can be found on the Holocaust Educational Trust website.

The Holocaust and the RE curriculum

Teaching about aspects of the Holocaust in RE lessons can help students explore:

• The connections between beliefs - both religious and secular - and actions.
• Moral dilemmas and choices, and the factors which can influence them.
• Responses to 'fundamental' questions such as the nature and causes of suffering and 'evil', and ultimately, what it means to be human.
• The interaction, and sometimes conflict, between different faiths and/or belief systems.
• Individual and collective identity.

It can also support students in practising essential skills:

• Understanding and scrutiny of the beliefs of others.
• Critical investigation of contrasting viewpoints, with an ability to reach reasoned judgements, and a willingness to challenge preconceptions.
• Interpretation of a range of sources to be able to reach and justify independent opinions.
• Effective communication of emotions and opinions.
• Reflection on the nature and meaning of morality and on the importance of moral choices.

Teacher Training

The Holocaust Educational Trust offers free training for teachers at all stages of their careers. Details of our teacher training programme can be found at www.het.org.uk/education/teacher-training.

RE teachers from your area are invited to register for any of our upcoming online seminars and virtual teacher study visits, or to register their interest in our 2021-22 residential courses. These include our:

• Exploring the Holocaust: UK Residential Course
• Teacher Study Visit to Vienna
• Annual Teacher Training Course at Yad Vashem

To register interest in a session or course, or to book a bespoke teacher training workshop, colleagues should email TeacherCPD@het.org.uk.

Teaching Programmes

We provide free and downloadable teaching resources, which can be found at www.het.org.uk/teaching-resources and include resources for primary, secondary and post-16 students.

Details of our outreach programme, through which teachers can arrange for a Holocaust survivor to share their testimony with their students, can be found at www.het.org.uk/education/outreach-programme. Further information about our educational programmes for teachers can be found on our website.

We would be delighted if you could share this information with RE teacher(s) in your school. We hope to work with you in the new school year.

If you or your colleagues have any questions, please contact us:

Teacher Training Team
Holocaust Educational Trust
Tel: 020 7222 6822
Email: TeacherCPD@het.org.uk
Web: www.het.org.uk