This research examined the meaning which Key Stage 3 students (aged 12-14) draw
from their history lessons on the Holocaust. It was a case study on multiple sites, which
was informed by the approaches of ethnography. It involved participant observation of
six Key Stage 3 classes across four schools in London and the Midlands. The research
examined the nature and origins of the ideas about the Holocaust which the students
held at the start of their history lessons on the topic. It explored the relationship
between these ideas and those the students held at the end of these lessons. It then
analysed how the students responded to depictions of the Holocaust which challenged
their initial perceptions of who was involved, and what happened, when, where and
why.
This study found that, before learning about it in their history lessons, most students
held some ideas about the Holocaust, but that these were commonly simplistic and
fragmented. The students largely presented Hitler as personally responsible for what
took place. They also referred almost exclusively to events carried out in concentration
camps and not in other sites of persecution. The research found that these notions
were largely drawn from their learning about the topic whilst in primary school, or from
a familiarity with the stories of Anne Frank or The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Finally,
the research suggested that many students held similar ideas at the beginning and at
the end of their history lessons on the topic. Consequently, this thesis concludes with
recommendations on how educators might support students in developing more
nuanced and historically informed understandings of the Holocaust.