Every state school in England or any school in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland is invited to apply for spaces for post-16 students to take part in Lessons from Auschwitz.
Students can be studying any subject and can be from any ethnic, religious, social, economic or cultural background.
There is no one way to go about choosing students to participate in this project. Circumstances in some schools and colleges can create a very high demand for places, whilst in others coordinating teachers may find that they need to "recruit" participants.
The Trust recommends that students be considered regardless of what subjects they may be studying and irrespective of their personal background. The project is not strictly a History course; we encourage students from a wide range of courses to join the project. All students need to be between the ages of 16-18 years old and in Post-16 Education.
It is also important to stress to all interested students that the project includes their having to participate in two online seminars, during which they will meet fellow participants and engage in discussions as well as independent online learning which students will have to undertake in their own time before and after the online seminars as well as the requirement to complete a Next Steps project.
Completion of all parts of the course is compulsory, and students must be able to access a computer, laptop or handheld device (tablet) in order to attend the online seminars and complete online learning.
When making your choice it is essential that your students are able to work together as a team. Students should be emotionally mature enough to feel comfortable interacting with students from other schools via the facilitated online seminars. By participating on the course, students make a commitment to work together to communicate the lessons of the Holocaust to others in their schools and/or communities. Your students' capacity to complete this requirement in a meaningful way should be a factor in your decision.
With this in mind, you might consider:
- Asking students to give a short presentation on the importance of remembering the Holocaust (either individually or as a group).
- Writing an essay. The title could for example be: 'Why is it important for everyone to remember the Holocaust?'
- Interviewing students to informally discuss the above topics.
In some instances, you may decide to select students who have not expressed an interest on their own. In these cases it is important that students understand why they have been asked to participate and what the expectations are. We recommend against making participation compulsory for any student who is not engaged with the project or the subject matter of the Holocaust.
For more information or to discuss this in greater detail, please contact the Lessons from Auschwitz Project Team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 020 7222 4761.