What do students know and understand about the Holocaust?

Recommendations

Info

Collective conceptions of the Holocaust 67 Perhaps this observation seems self-explanatory and unremarkable. However, the relationship between students’ confidence and the accuracy of their knowledge was not as clear-cut or predictable as it might first seem. Figure 3.17 charts the percentage of students who were at least fairly confident that they had given the right answer to all 11 multiple choice questions in the survey against the comparable proportion who actually gave the most accurate answer in each case. A broadly consistent proportion of students both knew – and knew that they knew – when the Holocaust happened, what the purpose of the Nazi ghettoes was and approximately how many European Jews were killed. However, confidence outstripped actual knowledge in a further eight of the eleven responses they were invited to provide. For two of these questions – ‘Approximately what percentage of Jewish children in Nazi-controlled Europe were murdered?’ and ‘In 1933, what percentage of the German population was Jewish’ – students expressed considerable uncertainty over their answers. Even here there were respective gaps of 11.6 and 21.3 percentage points between the proportion of those who were confident they had answered correctly and those who actually had. For other questions this same gap was striking: 45.2 percentage points where students were asked which historical event immediately preceded the Holocaust and almost 55.8 where they were asked to identify the most likely consequence if a member of the military or police refused an instruction to kill. This chapter began by outlining the implications of students’ collective conceptions of the Holocaust for classroom practice and it is appropriate to return to that endeavour here. If, as educators, we ultimately want to challenge and dispel some of the most pervasive misunderstandings that concern the Holocaust, it is instructive to recognise the strength with which these conceptions may be held. Moreover, as has been argued in this chapter, it is important to reflect upon where such misinformation might come from. Why is it that so few people are familiar with the weight of available historical evidence suggesting an officer who refused to kill would most likely have been reallocated to a different task (see Chapter 6 for a fuller discussion of this historiography and students’ responses)? And what wider frameworks for deriving meaning from the Holocaust might this and other such misconceptions reflect or serve? Summary ■■ This chapter has reported widespread recognition of the Holocaust, even among students who stated that they had never learned about the subject in school. In total, more than 85 per cent of all students surveyed recognised the term, ‘the Holocaust’ and a further 9 per cent were familiar with the history to which it refers. Of those unfamiliar with both the term and this history, 90 per cent were still in Year 9 or below. ■■ When invited to provide their own description of the Holocaust, a clear majority of students across all year groups included at least one reference to Jewish people. ■■ The second and third most consistently referenced terms were ‘killing’ and ‘Hitler’, respectively. ‘Nazis’, ‘concentration camps’ and ‘the Second World War’ were also frequently prioritised. ■■ Further content analysis revealed a relatively stable core structure within students’ descriptions of the Holocaust: across all year groups, students were most likely to identify an action or series of actions committed by named perpetrators upon named victims. They were considerably less likely to make reference to a specific timeframe or geographical location in their description. Within a subsample of 2,987 student responses, 73.7 per cent identified at least one perpetrator, 92.5 per cent at least one victim and 93.2 per cent at least one action, while only 24.7 per cent referred to a timeframe and only 14.9 per cent located the Holocaust geographically. ■■ Across all student descriptions, a much more extensive and varied vocabulary was used in relation to those identified as the victims of the Holocaust than those positioned as perpetrators. While victims were very regularly described as ‘Jewish people’, ‘Black people’, ‘people with disabilities’ and so on, perpetrators were much more commonly presented in abstracted terms. ■■ The chapter suggested that ‘camps’ – and in particular, concentration camps – appear to play a centrally important role in students’ conceptions of the Holocaust and, in many students’ descriptions, the two terms seemed to be used and understood interchangeably. While some students emphasised that the Nazis operated a variety of different camps with varying form and function, the majority did not acknowledge – nor perhaps recognise – such distinctions in their accounts. www.ioe.ac.uk/holocaust
68 Collective conceptions of the Holocaust Figure 3.16 Variation in average confidence score by year group 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 44 33 22 11 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13 44: ‘Very confident’ across all answers 33: ‘Fairly confident’ across all answers 22: ‘Not very confident’ across all answers 11: ‘Just a guess’ across all answers Figure 3.17 The percentage of students who were at least fairly confident they had given the correct answer for each question, and the percentage of students who actually did give the correct answer 20 10 When did the Holocaust happen? What were Nazi ghettos? Approx. How many Jews in Europe killed? Why did Nazi mass murder of Jews end? Which country did most murdered Jews come from? In which country did most killings take place? Approx. what % of Jewish children were murdered? What % of German population was Jewish in 1933? Mass murder of Jews began after which event? What happened when UK government found out? What happened to military if they refused instruction to kill? Percentage of students Average confidence score ■ Percentage who actually gave the correct answer ■ Percentage who were confident they had given the correct answer
Page 1 and 2:
CENTRE FOR HOLOCAUST EDUCATION What
Page 3 and 4:
What do students know and understan
Page 5 and 6:
iv About the UCL Centre for Holocau
Page 7 and 8:
vi Foreword by Sir Peter Bazalgette
Page 9 and 10:
viii Foreword by Professor Yehuda B
Page 11 and 12:
x
Page 13 and 14:
2 Executive summary ■■ Many stu
Page 15 and 16:
4
Page 17 and 18:
Olivia Hemingway, 2014
Page 19 and 20:
8 Introduction ■■ What forms of
Page 21 and 22:
10 Introduction the fate of the Jew
Page 23 and 24:
12 Introduction two reasons here in
Page 25 and 26:
14 Introduction Figure 1.1 Variatio
Page 27 and 28: 16 Introduction Holocaust are never
Page 29 and 30: 18 Introduction ■■ the inclusio
Page 31 and 32: 20 Introduction ■■ The chapter
Page 33 and 34: Olivia Hemingway, 2014
Page 35 and 36: 24 Methodology Of particular note w
Page 37 and 38: 26 Methodology were asked questions
Page 39 and 40: 28 Methodology Vocabulary test We e
Page 41 and 42: 30 Methodology Table 2.2 Breakdown
Page 43 and 44: 32 Methodology Focus group details
Page 45 and 46: 34 Methodology How were the focus-g
Page 49 and 50: 38 Collective conceptions of the Ho
Page 77: 66 Collective conceptions of the Ho
Page 83 and 84: 72 Encountering representations of
Page 113 and 114: 102 Preface often socially construc
Page 115 and 116: Emile Holba, 2014
Page 117 and 118: 106 Who were the victims? students
Page 119 and 120: 108 Who were the victims? Figure 5.
Page 121 and 122: 110 Who were the victims? statement
Page 123 and 124: 112 Who were the victims? first ins
Page 125 and 126: 114 Who were the victims? shipped o
Page 127 and 128: 116 Who were the victims? With the
Page 129 and 130:
118 Who were the victims? the war,
Page 131 and 132:
120 Who were the victims? (Longeric
Page 133 and 134:
122 Who were the victims? many of J
Page 135 and 136:
124 Who were the victims? First Wor
Page 137 and 138:
126 Who were the victims? asking
Page 139 and 140:
128 Who were the victims? unending
Page 141 and 142:
130 Who were the victims? different
Page 143 and 144:
132 Who were the victims? the Nazi
Page 145 and 146:
134 Who were the victims? and Read
Page 147 and 148:
136 Who were the victims? many stud
Page 149 and 150:
Emile Holba, 2014
Page 151 and 152:
140 Who were the perpetrators and w
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Emile Holba, 2014
Page 183 and 184:
172 When and where did the Holocaus
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Olivia Hemingway, 2014
Page 215 and 216:
204 Considerations and recommendati
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 236 and 237:
Appendix 1: The Survey 225 Appendix
Page 238 and 239:
Appendix 1: The Survey 227 How do y
Page 240 and 241:
Appendix 1: The Survey 229 Word qui
Page 242 and 243:
Appendix 1: The Survey 231 Explorin
Page 244 and 245:
Appendix 1: The Survey 233 Do you r
Page 246 and 247:
Appendix 1: The Survey 235 42. Who
Page 248 and 249:
Appendix 1: The Survey 237 The Nazi
Page 250 and 251:
Appendix 1: The Survey 239 64. What
Page 252 and 253:
Appendix 1: The Survey 241 71. If y
Page 254 and 255:
Appendix 1: The Survey 243 Returnin
Page 256 and 257:
Appendix 1: The Survey 245 87. Have
Page 258 and 259:
Appendix 2: Attitudinal scales used
Page 260 and 261:
Appendix 3: Coding frameworks for f
Page 262 and 263:
Appendix 3: Coding frameworks for f
Page 264 and 265:
Appendix 4: Schools that participat
Page 266 and 267:
Appendix 5: Schools that participat
Page 268 and 269:
Appendix 6: Multiple regression ana
Page 270 and 271:
References 259 Assmann, A. (2010)
Page 272 and 273:
References 261 Carr, E.H. (1964) Wh
Page 274 and 275:
References 263 Emler, N. and Ohana,
Page 276 and 277:
References 265 Howitt, D. and Crame
Page 278 and 279:
References 267 Levstik, L.S. (2000)
Page 280 and 281:
References 269 Resnick, L.B. (1989)
Page 282 and 283:
References 271 Snyder, T. (2009)
Page 284 and 285:
References 273 Yeager, E., Anderson
Page 286:
Centre for Holocaust Education UCL
show all

What do students know and understand about the Holocaust?

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?