What do students know and understand about the Holocaust?

78
Encountering representations of the Holocaust
Figure 4.8 Responses given by students who have not learned about the Holocaust in school to survey
question 74, ‘Have you read any books about the Holocaust?’ (by year group)
percentages below 5 per cent are not labelled in the chart’
Percentage of students
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Year 7 (n=396)
23.2
19.4
57.4
Year 8 (n=238)
21.6
16.3
62.1
Year 9 (n=237)
25.7
18.6
55.7
Year 10 (n=49)
34.7
12.2
53.1
Year 11 (n=21)
28.6
9.5
61.9
Year 12 (n=42)
33.3
61.9
Year 13 (n=26)
23.1
11.5
65.4
■ Yes ■ I don’t know ■ No
Figure 4.9 Responses given by students who have not learned about the Holocaust in school to survey
question 76, ‘Have you seen any films or television programmes about the Holocaust?’ (by year group)
percentages below 5 per cent are not labelled in the chart
Percentage of students
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Year 7 (n=398)
39.2 20.3
40.5
40.5
Year 8 (n=281)
53.0
15.3
31.7
Year 9 (n=241)
51.9
16.6
31.5
Year 10 (n=48)
75.0
12.5
12.5
Year 11 (n=22)
50.0
9.1
40.9
Year 12 (n=43)
67.4
27.9
Year 13 (n=25)
80.0
16.0
■ Yes ■ I don’t know ■ No
Holocaust outside of formal study and that at least
39.2 per cent of Year 7 students and 53 per cent
of Year 8 students had watched films or television
programmes about the Holocaust in contexts other
than school.
Students were also presented with lists of names
and/or categories of books, films and television
programmes, and asked to indicate which they had
read or watched. As Figures 4.10 and 4.11 illustrate,
across all year groups apart from Year 7, John
Boyne’s novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and
its film adaptation appear to be both the most widely
read of books about the Holocaust and the most
regularly watched film. In Year 7, The Diary of
Anne Frank was the most regularly cited book read
by students.
Almost 80 per cent of Year 8 students who had
read any book about the Holocaust had read The
Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Among those who had
watched any film or television programme about the
Holocaust, 70 per cent of Year 7 students and 90 per
cent of Year 12 students had watched The Boy in
the Striped Pyjamas film. This represents a significant
proportion of students across all age groups, and the
potential impact of this finding will be considered in
detail below.