Holocaust Educational Trust

(asked on 16th January 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to continue to support the Holocaust Educational Trust.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 24th January 2018

Since 2010, the Department for Education has provided over £14 million to support students and teachers from state-funded schools and colleges in England to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, through the Lessons from Auschwitz programme. The aim of these visits is to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust.

We are continuing to support the Holocaust Education Trust, ensuring more students have the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and that they share the knowledge they have gained from their visit and lead projects to increase awareness of the Holocaust in their schools and local communities.

The Department also funds the University College London centre for Holocaust Education to provide continuing professional development for teachers. On 16 January 2018, the Government announced a partnership between the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Education. These departments are providing £144,261 of joint funding for a new programme to support universities in tackling antisemitism on campus. The programme will be delivered by the Holocaust Educational Trust and will involve 200 students and university leaders from across the country visiting the former Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon their return, they will take part in a seminar, which will deal explicitly with campus issues and how to identify and tackle antisemitism.

Every year the Department for Education holds a Holocaust Memorial Day event. This year it will fall on 31 January 2018 and be hosted by The Holocaust Educational Trust. A Holocaust survivor will attend as guest speaker, with their testimony being the central focus of the event; and young ambassadors will share their reflections on their Department for Education funded ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ experience.

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