FOI25/26 102 Information Relating to Framing, Delivery or Symbolic Structuring of Holocaust Education

Date published: 25/11/2025

Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, I request the following recorded information:

- Any guidance documents, policy frameworks, internal correspondence, or training materials relating to the framing, delivery, or symbolic structuring of Holocaust education in Scottish schools.
- Any recorded rationale for the inclusion of Holocaust education across multiple subjects (e.g. History, English, Drama, Art, PSHE), including any cross-curricular programming intentions or psychological framing strategies.
- Any documentation outlining the mandatory or recommended status of Holocaust education within the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, including any recorded justification for its prioritisation or symbolic placement.
- Any correspondence or agreements with external organisations (e.g. Holocaust Educational Trust) regarding the design, funding, or ideological framing of Holocaust-related educational programmes, including the “Lessons from Auschwitz” initiative.
- Any recorded reviews, audits, or evaluations of the historical neutrality, ideological framing, or psychological impact of Holocaust education materials used in Scottish schools.

Clarification: This request is not a challenge to the inclusion of Holocaust education, but a forensic inquiry into the symbolic, psychological, and ideological framing of its delivery within Scottish educational settings.

1- Any guidance documents, policy frameworks, internal correspondence, or training materials relating to the framing, delivery, or symbolic structuring of Holocaust education in Scottish schools.

When an authority is unable to provide information, under section 17 of the Act, it must inform a requester. SQA does not hold any guidance documents, policy frameworks, internal correspondence, or training materials relating to the framing, delivery, or symbolic structuring of Holocaust education in Scottish schools.

2- Any recorded rationale for the inclusion of Holocaust education across multiple subjects (e.g. History, English, Drama, Art, PSHE), including any cross-curricular programming intentions or psychological framing strategies.

When an authority is unable to provide information, under section 17 of the Act, it must inform a requester. SQA does not hold any recorded rationale for the inclusion of Holocaust education across multiple subjects (e.g. History, English, Drama, Art, PSHE), including any cross-curricular programming intentions or psychological framing strategies.

3- Any documentation outlining the mandatory or recommended status of Holocaust education within the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, including any recorded justification for its prioritisation or symbolic placement.

When an authority is unable to provide information, under section 17 of the Act, it must inform a requester. SQA does not hold any documentation outlining the mandatory or recommended status of Holocaust education within the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, including any recorded justification for its prioritisation or symbolic placement.

4- Any correspondence or agreements with external organisations (e.g. Holocaust Educational Trust) regarding the design, funding, or ideological framing of Holocaust-related educational programmes, including the “Lessons from Auschwitz” initiative.

Information is provided in the PDF attachment. Please note that names and identifying information of SQA staff below Head of Service level and non-SQA staff have been removed under section 38 (1)(b) as this is considered personal information. In reference to the discussed ‘Development Opportunity Form’, we have no record of any request being submitted for the DPA in Holocaust Studies.

5- Any recorded reviews, audits, or evaluations of the historical neutrality, ideological framing, or psychological impact of Holocaust education materials used in Scottish schools.

There are possibilities for teaching about the Holocaust in the following units.

J02X 34 History B: Analysing Topics within a Historical Period

Modern Europe 1870–Present

20th Century Europe 1929–45

Higher National Unit Specification History B

J6EP 47 History B: Historical Debates (Next Gen)

Modern Europe 1870 – Present

20th Century Europe – 1929 – 1945

Next Gen Higher National Unit Specification Histor B Historical Debates

FK17 35 History D: Specialist Study

A topic or time period should be negotiated with the tutor. The aim of this unit is to provide an opportunity for learners to acquire an in depth understanding of an event or series of events in the field of history. This will involve critically analysing and evaluating a particular event or series of events within the field of history. The assessment should allow learners to see the complexity of historical processes and the interconnectivity of various causes or the disparate consequences of any major event. This unit offers learners the opportunity to independently explore past event/s in a format that is engaging and interesting.

Higher National Unit Specification History D Specialist Study

J7D8 48 History: Themes from a Historical Perspective

Learners must study two from this list of approved course themes: ♦ History and social change ♦ Power and control ♦ Our changing world ♦ Deviance ♦ Inequalities ♦ Globalisation ♦ Culture and identity ♦ Human environments ♦ Ethics ♦ Origins of behaviour

Learners must study a further two from this list of subject-specific themes: ♦ Warfare ♦ Welfare state ♦ 20th century to 1945 ♦ 20th century from 1946 onwards ♦ Pandemics (prior to COVID-19) ♦ Medieval history ♦ Early modern history (1500s to circa 1799)  ♦ Modern history (1800s onwards)

Next Gen Higher National Unit Specification Themes From a Historical Perspective

Dance or Drama courses: Centres could choose to look at this in relation to a theme/issue, play text, performance review or stimulus but this is at centre discretion and not stipulated by SQA.

H Psychology candidates will study the topic of conformity and obedience, and within this, teachers and lecturers may make links to the actions of people during the holocaust, or behaviour of soldiers in wartime generally. The Milgram experiment is a mandatory study in our H Psychology course. This is the famous study into obedience with participants believing they are giving electric shocks to other participants (in reality these were actors in no danger). The researcher increased the "voltage" of shocks, asking participants to go up to lethal levels.   

In 2023, the Higher Psychology QP asked candidates to analyse Milgram's study. One of the examples of possible marks given in the marking instructions is: 

the results of Milgram’s study can help us to understand German soldiers’ behaviour in the Second World War as most of the soldiers said that they were following orders given by a higher authority (1)

FOI25/26 102 Part 4 Redacted (178 KB)

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