The National Institute of Education and Youth (NIVAM) prepared educational trainings for 20 teachers and expert staff at the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and Holocaust in Poland from 8 to 11 November 2023.
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The training included specific workshops on the topics of World War II, Holocaust and concentration camps. The key was to interconnect these topics with respect for basic human rights and awareness of ethical values in these times.
Theoretical workshops were complemented by tours of the Auschwitz I concentration camp and the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. They were accompanied by expert lectures and the knowledge from the lectures was used in the workshops.
The aim of the educational activity was to deepen knowledge and expand information about the events that took place before, during and after the Second World War.
Jozef Facuna, project manager from the Department of National Minorities at the National Institute of Education and Youth (NIVaM), highlighted several benefits of the educational activity for pedagogical practice:
- Implementation of new knowledge in formal and non-formal education,
- increasing the educational activities of the participating schools to familiarize students with the topics concerning human rights and democratic citizenship,
- the use of the acquired knowledge in the development of teaching materials focusing on the events of the Second World War,
- planning new activities - training sessions for teaching staff and professional staff focusing on the events of the Second World War,
- developing further cooperation with the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.
The International Center for Education about Auschwitz and Holocaust (ICEAH) was founded in 2005 and is an integral part of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The Center's activities include education about the history of the Holocaust and the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. It focuses on the tragic fate of Jews, Poles, Roma and Soviet prisoners of war, as well as the fate of all other groups of victims imprisoned and murdered in Auschwitz.
"The activities of the Education Centre are aimed at pupils and students, as well as teachers and educators and representatives of various professions, including groups of people 'excluded' from society. The Centre organizes, among other things, study visits for young people, conferences, educational projects, training courses, seminars and exhibitions. It also provides access to self-education materials on the Internet," Facuna said.
Educational trainings at the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and Holocaust in Poland are part of the activities within the pre-defined project entitled "Innovative training of teachers to increase their intercultural competences in the educational process of Roma pupils" within the framework of the Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Roma Inclusion Programme. The project is funded by Norway grants and the state budget of the Slovak Republic.
