Opinion: Young children should not learn about the Shoah

There has been a four-fold increase in the Holocaust being taught in history at the lower end of Key Stage Three, but we must ensure students are old enough to fully understand it, says Professor Stuart Foster and Professor Ruth-Anne Lenga (both UCL Institute of Education). Just over a decade ago, the UCL Centre For Holocaust Education published a nationwide study of Holocaust education in England. It was a landmark moment, for such large-scale research of this kind was unprecedented and our findings changed much of the debate in this important area. It revealed a national picture of where, when and how the Holocaust was taught in schools, the abundant issues that teachers faced when teaching about it and it uncovered teachers' knowledge and training needs. In response, our Centre created a programme tailored to address the issues and significantly improve the quality of teaching and learning about the Holocaust. A lot can change in 10 years, so we have recently undertaken new research into current teaching practices. In particular, we were interested to find out what improvements have been made, what issues haven't gone away, and what new challenges teachers face.