Pedagogy 2025

Abstract

Much has been written about the challenges of teaching the Holocaust in various contexts (see, for example Foster et al 2020; Grimmer 2024; Lenga 2020) but there has been little published research concerned with the teaching of the broader history of antisemitism. Similarly, though there is plenty of scholarship on the teaching of “difficult” historical topics (see, for example, Austin 2024; Belanger 2021; Sheppard 2010) there has been relatively little discussion of culturally responsive pedagogy in relation to the teaching of topics connected with Israel/Palestine, however tangentially, in a UK HE context. This paper engages with these lacunae by taking an autoethnographic approach, using, as a case study, a final year option module offered to History and International Relations and Politics students since the 2020/21 academic year. It begins by explaining the original approaches to the module design, which was heavily informed by critical and culturally responsive pedagogies, incorporating also a strong emphasis on experiential learning. It then charts the frequent changes in module content, dictated by current events and geopolitics, and relates how these content changes have also led to an evolution in pedagogic approaches. In addition to the existing pedagogical structures, the class now also makes use of trauma-informed teaching practices, and emphasises a compassion-focussed pedagogy. It concludes by charting the success of a pedagogy of kindness as an approach to teaching challenging and contentious subject matter.