ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the 2016 University College London (UCL) study and then seeks to outline and explore why, despite significant cultural and political investment in Holocaust education, students’ knowledge and understanding is typically limited and impoverished. The thrust of Eckmann’s argument is made even more compelling when one considers the results of the UCL study, which exposes serious gaps in students’ knowledge and understanding and the prevalence of numerous myths and misconceptions. The chapter focuses on common limitations in the knowledge and understanding of teachers and students. Fundamentally, substantive knowledge refers to the concepts used to organise the past and includes knowledge of, for example, key dates, individuals, and events. Explanations for why students’ knowledge and understanding appeared so weak in the 2016 national study are numerous and potentially derive from the intersection of both educational and socio-political/cultural factors.
