The world leader in Holocaust education

 

Do you know??

  1. Beginning in October 1939, the Nazis created ghettos. What were Nazi ghettos?

  2. During the Second World War, the countries listed below were allied with, influenced or controlled by the Nazis. Which country did the largest number of Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust come from?

About us

Breaking the mould and setting the agenda

Since we were established in 2008, by a founding grant from Pears Foundation and the Department for Education, the Centre for Holocaust Education has operated at the frontier of teaching and learning about the Holocaust - nationally and internationally.

Through our work we break the mould of existing teaching and learning about the Holocaust - setting new agendas for the future of the field. We inspire thousands of teachers every year, who go back into their classrooms empowered and informed.

Both Pears Foundation and the DfE continue to provide generous support.

This Centre forms part of a wider portfolio of initiatives supported by Pears Foundation across several UCL Faculties. Further information on the depth and breadth of the Foundation’s engagement can be found below:

Pears Foundation and UCL

Our people and our approach

Our impact

Discover why we are regarded as the best in the world

Read about our worldwide impact and recognition.

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Who we are

Learn more about us and our expertise

A team of experts committed to Holocaust education

Meet the team
Our rationale

Why we believe Holocaust education is so important

The value of teaching and learning about the Holocaust in today's world

Find out why

Partnerships

Founding partner

Pears Foundation

We are privileged to have worked with Pears Foundation since they provided a founding grant for our Centre in 2008

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Royal Wootton Bassett Academy

The Holocaust, Their Family, Me and Us

An immersive, enriching & collaborative Holocaust education project

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The Holocaust, Their Family, Me and Us

Centre welcomes Robert Rinder and Bernie Graham in ‘surprise’ at student conference

This unique project conference saw a remarkable group of young people, of different ages, backgrounds and experience, come together.

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Our background

The Centre for Holocaust Education is part of the UCL Institute of Education. Since 2014, the IOE has been number one in the world for Education in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. The IOE has also been rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted across all four phases of education, and ranked first for ‘research power’ and ‘research strength’ in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. At the Centre for Holocaust Education we are proud of the contribution we have made to this success.

Our history

We were established in 2008 by the Pears Foundation, whose research into the Holocaust education field had identified teacher training as a national priority, and were originally known as the Holocaust Education Development Programme (HEDP). Pears Foundation’s commitment was matched by funding from the Government, and both have supported us ever since.

In 2009, we produced the first national empirical portrait of teaching practices around the Holocaust in England, which then informed the creation of our unique CPD programmes. In 2012, we were awarded Centre status by the University of London and were renamed the Centre for Holocaust Education in 2012. Our landmark study of students’ knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust was published in 2016, and in early 2022 we will publish the findings of our third major research project.

Throughout our history the development of teachers and teaching practice has sat at the very core of our work. Through our portfolio of CPD programmes we provide extensive training for teachers in service and in training, targeted to their needs at every stage of their careers. We are the only institution in the field whose teacher development is quality assured – our Masters course, The Holocaust in the Curriculum, is validated by UCL and has a chief examiner from the University of Oxford.  All of our CPD courses conform to university standards and are therefore answerable to the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency) for Higher Education.

In keeping with its mandate as part of a public university, we ensure the Centre’s expertise is available to a range of national and international institutions. We are an international hub for collaboration, evaluation and consultation.