Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2018.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, the Department for Education has provided over £14 million to support students and teachers from state-funded schools and colleges in England to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, through the Lessons from Auschwitz programme. The aim of these visits is to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust.
We are continuing to support the Holocaust Education Trust, ensuring more students have the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and that they share the knowledge they have gained from their visit and lead projects to increase awareness of the Holocaust in their schools and local communities.
The Department also funds the University College London centre for Holocaust Education to provide continuing professional development for teachers. On 16 January 2018, the Government announced a partnership between the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Education. These departments are providing £144,261 of joint funding for a new programme to support universities in tackling antisemitism on campus. The programme will be delivered by the Holocaust Educational Trust and will involve 200 students and university leaders from across the country visiting the former Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon their return, they will take part in a seminar, which will deal explicitly with campus issues and how to identify and tackle antisemitism.
Every year the Department for Education holds a Holocaust Memorial Day event. This year it will fall on 31 January 2018 and be hosted by The Holocaust Educational Trust. A Holocaust survivor will attend as guest speaker, with their testimony being the central focus of the event; and young ambassadors will share their reflections on their Department for Education funded ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ experience.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to continue to support the Holocaust Educational Trust.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, the Department for Education has provided over £14 million to support students and teachers from state-funded schools and colleges in England to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, through the Lessons from Auschwitz programme. The aim of these visits is to increase knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust.
We are continuing to support the Holocaust Education Trust, ensuring more students have the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and that they share the knowledge they have gained from their visit and lead projects to increase awareness of the Holocaust in their schools and local communities.
The Department also funds the University College London centre for Holocaust Education to provide continuing professional development for teachers. On 16 January 2018, the Government announced a partnership between the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Education. These departments are providing £144,261 of joint funding for a new programme to support universities in tackling antisemitism on campus. The programme will be delivered by the Holocaust Educational Trust and will involve 200 students and university leaders from across the country visiting the former Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon their return, they will take part in a seminar, which will deal explicitly with campus issues and how to identify and tackle antisemitism.
Every year the Department for Education holds a Holocaust Memorial Day event. This year it will fall on 31 January 2018 and be hosted by The Holocaust Educational Trust. A Holocaust survivor will attend as guest speaker, with their testimony being the central focus of the event; and young ambassadors will share their reflections on their Department for Education funded ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ experience.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to preserve the teaching of Design and Technology within school curriculums.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Design and Technology (D&T) is compulsory in the national curriculum in England at key stages 1 to 3. By introducing a new, more rigorous D&T curriculum in 2014 and reforming the subject’s GCSE and A level qualifications, we have taken important steps to make D&T a more attractive subject to study, paving the way for young people to progress into careers in a vast range of engineering and design fields.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of Design and Technology teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We continue to support Design and Technology (D&T) teacher recruitment through bursaries of up to £12,000 and marketing campaigns featuring D&T. Subject knowledge enhancement courses are available for those candidates who need to refresh or boost their knowledge of D&T prior to commencing teacher training. The Department for Education provides a specific webpage through the ‘Get into Teaching’ website for potential D&T trainee teachers:
https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teach-design-and-technology
In addition, officials hold regular discussions with the Design and Technology Association.