"It reminded me of what really matters": teacher responses to the Lessons from Auschwitz Project

Since 2007, the Lessons from Auschwitz Project organised by the Holocaust Education Trust, has taken groups of Scottish senior school students (between 16 and 18 years) and where possible an accompanying teacher from their school, to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum as part of a process of increasing young people's knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust and racism. The Project comprises four components: an orientation session, the visit to the Museum, a follow-up session and a Next Steps initiative. The final component involves students designing and implementing projects in their school and community aimed at disseminating what they have learned. Previous published research has focused on the impact of the Lessons from Auschwitz Project on student participants. This research (funded by the Pears Foundation and the Holocaust Education Trust) investigates the impact the Lessons from Auschwitz Project has on teacher participants. The methodology was an online questionnaire, which was completed by 42 Scottish teachers who participated in the Lessons from Auschwitz Project in 2007. Findings indicate that the Lessons from Auschwitz Project influenced teachers at a personal and professional level and that this applied to teachers who considered their knowledge of the Holocaust and genocides to be substantial. In addition, teachers considered that the Project impacted their schools in a range of ways.