Interim Programme Director, Associate Professor in Holocaust and History Education

Dr Andy Pearce

Andy Pearce is currently Interim Programme Director of the Centre and works across all of our workstreams. He is one of the lead authors of  our national research into students' knowledge and understanding and our Continuity and Change study, published in 2023, and also teaches on all aspects of our national programme. He was previously Co-PI for the curriculum framework on antisemitism developed by the Centre for the OSCE/ODHIR 'Words into Action' project.

Andy has worked in the field for over fourteen years. Beforehand, he taught history and politics in London secondary schools and completed doctoral research at Royal Holloway's Holocaust Research Institute. Andy has collaborated with various institutions and organisations in the field, and this has included authoring The Wiener Library’s travelling exhibition Never Again? Thinking About the Holocaust ; helping to catalogue the Imperial War Museum's Moscati Collection; and being commissioned by the BBC to write their iWonder guide 'Remembering genocide: Are we doing it right?' Andy's outreach work has also seen him provide consultancy for the UK delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), and the Prime Minister's Holocaust Commission. He has appeared on Sky News, written Op-Ed pieces for The Spectator, and has participated in a panel discussion on public memory and the Second World War for the Imperial War Museum.

Andy is recognised as a leading historian of Britain and the Holocaust, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (RHS).

Andy writes on issues related to Holocaust memory, Holocaust education, memory studies, teaching and learning, and contemporary history. He is the author, editor or co-editor of five books: Holocaust Consciousness in Contemporary Britain, Remembering the Holocaust in Educational SettingsHolocaust Education 25 Years OnHolocaust Education: Contemporary Challenges and Controversies and most recently The Palgrave Handbook of Britain and the Holocaust.

Andy sits on various Advisory Boards, and acts as peer reviewer for major publication presses and journals.

Selected publications:

Pearce, A. & Foster, S., 'Historical justice and the Holocaust in history education' in Historical Justice and History Education, eds. Matilda Keynes, Henrik Åström Elmersjö, Daniel Lindmark & Björn Norlin (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

Pearce, A. 'Britishness, Brexit and the Holocaust', in The Palgrave Handbook on Britain and the Holocaust, eds. Tom Lawson & Andy Pearce (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)

Pearce, A. & Lawson, T. 'Britain and the Holocaust: An Introduction' in The Palgrave Handbook on Britain and the Holocaust, eds. Tom Lawson & Andy Pearce (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)

Pearce, A. 'Marginalisation through commemoration: Trends and practices in Holocaust education in the United Kingdom', War and Society, 39:3 (2020), 215-220.

Lanicek, J. Pearce, A., Raffaele, D., Rathbone, K., Westermann, E., 'Unusual Approaches to teaching the Holocaust', Australian Journal of Jewish Studies, XXXIII (2020), 80-117.

Pearce, A. 'The Shapes of 'Holocaust education' in the early 21st century' in Holocaust Education: Challenges and Controversies, eds. Stuart J. Foster, Andy Pearce, Alice Pettigrew (London: UCL Press, 2020)

Pearce, A., Foster, S. J., Pettigrew, A., 'Antisemitism and Holocaust education' in Holocaust Education: Challenges and Controversies, eds. Stuart J. Foster, Andy Pearce, Alice Pettigrew (London: UCL Press, 2020)

Pearce, A. 'An Emerging "Holocaust Memorial Problem"? The condition of Holocaust culture in Britain'Journal of Holocaust Research, 33:2 (2019).

Pearce, A. 'In The Thick of It: Holocaust politics in Millennial Britain', Patterns of Prejudice, 53:1 (2019).

Pearce, A. 'Holocaust Education in Australian Universities: Reflections on a Roundtable', Australian Humanities Review, 63 (November, 2018).

Pearce, A.  'Education, remembrance and the Holocaust: Towards pedagogic memory-work' in Remembering the Holocaust in Educational Settings, ed. Andy Pearce (London: Routledge, 2018).

Pearce, A.  'The Anatomy of a relationship: the Holocaust, genocide, and education in Britain' in Remembering the Holocaust in Educational Settings, ed. Andy Pearce (London: Routledge, 2018).

Pearce, A. (ed.) Remembering the Holocaust in Educational Settings (London: Routledge, 2018).

Pearce, A. & Chapman, A. (eds.) Holocaust Education 25 Years On: Challenges, Issues, Opportunities (London: Routledge, 2018).

Pearce, A. 'The Holocaust in the National Curriculum after 25 Years', Special Issue, Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, 23:3 (2017).

Pearce, A. & Chapman, A. 'Holocaust education 25 Years On: Challenges, Issues, Opportunities', Special Issue, Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, 23:3 (2017).

Pearce, A. 'Review: British POWs and the Holocaust: Witnessing Nazi Atrocities', Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, Published online 2017.

Pearce, A. Holocaust Consciousness in Contemporary Britain (London & New York: Routledge, 2014).

Pearce, A. ‘Britain and the Formation of Contemporary Holocaust Consciousness: A Product of Europeanization, or Exercise in Triangulation?’ in The Transcultural Turn: Interrogating Memory Between and Beyond Borders, eds. Lucy Bond & Jessica Rapson (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014).

Pearce, A. ‘Britain’s Holocaust Memorial Day: Inculcating “British” or “European” Holocaust Consciousness?’ in Britain and the Holocaust: Remembering and Representing War & Genocide, eds. Olaf Jensen & Caroline Sharples (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Pearce, A. and Burgess, A. ‘Reflections on the “Lessons from Auschwitz” Project: Pedagogy, Responses & Challenges’ in Les Eleves Face a la Shoah: Lieux, Histoire, Voyages, eds. Jacques et Ygal Fijalkow (Presses du Centre Universitaire Jean-François Champollion : 2012).

Pearce, A. ‘Review: The Lasting War & Philosophical Witnessing’, Journal of Contemporary History, 45:4 (2010).

Pearce, A. ‘The Development of Holocaust Consciousness in Contemporary Britain’, Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, 14:2 (2008).

Online blogs and other articles:

Pearce, A. 'Are we failing to learn the lessons of the Holocaust?', The Spectator, 19 March 2023.

Pearce, A. 'Why teaching the Holocaust still matters', The Spectator, 5 April 2021.

Pearce, A. 'In our unstable world, Holocaust education matters', TES, 25 July 2020.

Pearce, A. 'What are the challenges in and the challenges of education?', UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, 6 July 2020.

Pearce, A. and Lenga, R. 'The story of an Englishman in Auschwitz', The Conversation, 26 January, 2017.

Pearce, A. 'Encounters and possibilities: Teaching and learning about the Holocaust', Royal Wootton Bassett Academy Holocaust and Genocide Programme Blog, 21 June 2016.

Pearce, A. 'Remembering Belsen: do we know what we are forgetting?', UCL IOE Blog, 18 April 2016.

Pearce, A. 'When the National Curriculum is not compulsory', UCL IOE Blog, 3 July 2014.

Publications by: Dr Andy Pearce

  • What do students know and understand about the Holocaust? Evidence from English secondary schools

    The latest ground-breaking research from the Centre, published in October […]

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