Journal Articles
Moving beyond the toolbox: teaching human rights through teaching the Holocaust in post-apartheid South Africa
What role might Holocaust education play in post-apartheid South Africa? What role might the teacher of the Holocaust play? This paper examines the considerations that have shaped the programmes developed by the South African Holocaust Foundation to support South African teachers teaching about the Holocaust. This programme is set against a society removed in time and space from the history of the Holocaust, but in which teachers, like other members of this society, have recently emerged from a traumatic past. Informed by the experience of working with history teachers from diverse communities across rural and urban areas of South Africa, this paper argues that, if teachers are to be active players in the process of social transformation, teacher training has to go beyond supporting the content knowledge and methodological skills of teachers. Training programmes have to facilitate not only the development of an understanding by teachers of what is meant by human rights, but more importantly, facilitate the process by which teachers can come to value human rights, and not see them as an obstacle in their path to teaching.
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