A government-backed programme to help educators counter antisemitism in schools and across the country is to go live in the autumn.
A four-part online module produced by the Tackling Antisemitism in Education initiative, which is funded by the Department for Education, will be freely available to institutions from November 1.
Ranging from the history of Jews in the UK to practical tools to deal with classroom prejudice, the scheme will also include networks for teachers to share best practice.
At a launch in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Baroness Berger, vice-chair of the All Party-Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, said: “We can send a very clear message that anti-Jewish hatred has no place in our schools, our colleges and our universities or anywhere in our society.”
Giving examples of anti-Jewish hatred, she explained that some children were afraid to wear their Magen David to school, while others had been targeted for wearing kippot. Some pupils had been advised not to wear uniforms that identified them as from a Jewish school.
“We have had parents who have had to move their children to a different school because of the antisemitism that they have faced or the antisemitism that parents themselves had faced,” she continued.
One parent had recently told her that her son, who plays rugby for the school, had experienced antisemitism from both opponents and members of his own team.
It was “not only students but Jewish teachers in non-Jewish schools who are also facing abuse,” she said, explaining that children were “often parroting what they see online”.
“We know that education is the key to unpicking and challenging those misconceptions and prejudices that have been rooted in our society,” Berger went on. “We need to ensure that educators have the skills to recognise antisemitism and feel empowered and have the confidence to call it out and to tackle it when they see it.”
When educators were equipped to challenge antisemitism, she said, “they are also equipped to build a safer, more respectful learning environment for everyone”.
Fellow APPG Against Antisemitism vice-chair Christine Jardine, the Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West, said she had first heard proposals to tackle antisemitism in the education system from the government’s adviser on antisemitism Lord Mann four or five years ago.
“Sadly the situation has become much worse since then,” she said.
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