Teaching primary pupils about the Holocaust can have a positive long-term impact on the way they view minority groups in Scottish society but it makes no difference to negative views of the English, according to a study.
Research published today has found that P7 pupils who, in 2003, were taught about the systematic slaughter of six million Jews under the Nazi regime, still have more positive views towards disadvantaged groups today than they did before the lessons took place.
However, academics found that, in some areas, those views are becoming more negative and there is still a "worrying hostility" towards English people, which actually increased over time among the sample of some 300 pupils. Attitudes towards Muslims had also deteriorated.
When S4 pupils who had taken part in the original survey were asked whether they would be just as likely to vote for an English person as a Scot for the Holyrood Parliament, only 30% agreed, compared to 62% of the same sample in 2004. However, in other areas attitudes have become more positive. When pupils were asked if they would be just as likely to vote for a woman as a man, 86% agreed, compared to 80.5% of the original group.
Henry Maitles, head of curricular studies at Strathclyde University, who conducted the research with Paula Cowan, an education lecturer at Paisley University, called for the Scottish Government to examine how the issue could be addressed in schools.
He also believes that if the benefits of teaching about the Holocaust in primary school are to be maintained then the lessons need to be reinforced more strongly in the early years of secondary.
The paper, entitled The Impact of Learning About the Holocaust, will be presented to the annual conference of the Scottish Educational Research Association in Perth today.
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