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UPFRONT INTERNATIONAL

Israel: Teaching about the Holocaust

Kari Olufsen, KS3 history co-ordinator at the John Roan school, south east London, describes a visit to Israel this summer with 21 like-minded teachers.

There are few subjects more daunting than the Holocaust. Few other events provoke as many questions or challenges. As the opportunity to hear survivor testimony lessens each year, the responsibility to tackle Holocaust education grows. Which is why 22 of us from across the UK visited Jerusalem over the summer, studying under some of the world’s greatest Holocaust academics and historians.

The Holocaust Education Trust and Yad Vashem (Israel’s official Holocaust memorial) jointly offer a nine-day seminar in Holocaust education to teachers of all subjects at all levels, tackling some of the more problematic themes and discussing the most effective pedagogical approaches.

The opportunity to share resources and ideas was invaluable, but perhaps what had the most lasting effect on us was touring the Hall of Remembrance and Historical Museum.

Holocaust education requires a holistic, sensitive, cross-curricular approach. While we are not yet experts, the seminar gave us the tools and knowledge to introduce these into our own schools.

For further information on the course visit www.het.org.uk.


Spain: Out of the mouths of babes…

Visiting Spanish friends, South West NUT regional secretary Andy Woolley was invited to spend a day at the Blas Otero infant and primary school in Mostoles, a suburb of Madrid. He took part in a bilingual teaching programme being introduced in 205 schools around the capital.

Blas Otero aims to teach the newest entrants (from three years old) completely bilingually. This will move up the school until eventually all six year groups are taught this way.

The first English assistant, a language student from Leeds university, started on the day Andy visited. She was told to speak English at all times. She will spend her year working mainly with the youngest pupils. Older pupils get three hours of English a week.

Andy spent time with Marga Pascual’s class of four year olds. She too is learning English as part of the school’s programme. He also saw older children in a special English teaching room with language teacher Rebeca Merchan Salan.

Andy noticed that, in comparison with similar primary schools in England, Blas Otero was less well resourced. He also said: “Teachers who had visited English schools were impressed that our teachers could take whole school groups for assembly and they would listen in silence!

“On the plus side, Blas Otero has a class size limit of 25 and the best school dinners I’ve tasted in years.”


Afghanistan: A matter of life or death

In Afghanistan, education is a life or death matter. On 9 July, in the Ltogar province, a bomb killed 25 people, 13 of them schoolchildren. The explosion was Taliban retaliation for the opening of a girls’ school in the village.

In just two years 640 schools have been shut down, often after bombings, arson or threats to life. Over 80 per cent of the schools targeted were girls’ schools.

Progress has been made in the lives of women since the fall of the Taliban. They can vote, have a quarter of the seats in parliament, and a legal right to find jobs outside the home. Donors and NGOs have built women’s centres.

But eight years on, fewer than 30 per cent of eligible girls are enrolled in schools, and the infrastructure is so poor that only a tiny fraction are likely to get the education they need to enjoy the fruits of emancipation.

“The first challenge for girls’ education is cultural barriers,” said Fazlul Haque, Unicef chief of education for Afghanistan. In the past six years over 3,500 schools have opened, but most operate out of tents, often without sanitation. This plays particularly badly with parents. Strong cultural prohibitions about women mixing with unrelated men still prevail.

“In Afghan culture, women are seen as the repository of family honour, and the education of girls – whether in terms of the design of school buildings or how classes are conducted – needs to reflect that reality,” says Matt Waldman, Afghan policy adviser for Oxfam.

Educating women provides the best route to national development, so meeting their desire to learn would be in the interests of anyone who wants to see a stable future for the country.

For more information visit www.afghanaid.org.uk.

Martyn Clayton, Freelance writer and former teacher