Bridget Phillipson, the UK's Education Secretary, has called for more education surrounding the Holocaust following a rise in antisemitic incidents in schools and universities, in a conversation with The Times on Saturday.

Phillipson warned that antisemitism among schoolchildren has become a “national emergency” in the UK and believes that it must be tackled through compulsory lessons on the Holocaust.

“We must confront an alarming truth - the lessons of history are being forgotten by a growing number of our young people,” said Phillipson, during the same week that the UK marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

“These lessons are needed now more than ever. The horrific surge in antisemitism among schoolchildren since October 7 is not merely concerning - it is a national emergency,” Phillipson stated. Adding, “That is why every child in every school across England will learn about the Holocaust, about antisemitism, and about how easily democracy can fracture when hatred goes unchallenged.”

The Community Security Trust (CST) reported a steep rise in antisemitism both in schools and universities since the October 7 attacks by Hamas. The British charity recorded 272 incidents over the past year, five times the average of previous years. In 2024, there were 260 reported antisemitic incidents in schools - the second-highest number on record after 2023, which saw 335 cases. This marks a significant increase compared to the 94 incidents in 2022.

Holocaust education in UK schools

The Holocaust is currently the only historic event that is compulsory within the British History curriculum. According to the UK government, students are required by law to be taught about it at Key Stage 3 (around the ages of 11 to 14). It has been a named topic on the curriculum since the first one was introduced in 1991.

However, academies, which make up approximately 80 percent of state-funded secondary schools, do not currently have to follow the national curriculum. Similarly, independent schools are excluded from this requirement, but in any case, many of them choose to teach based on the National Curriculum. There is also no formal requirement at the moment for Holocaust education in schools in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

While the curriculum requires this subject to be taught in History, it is also often covered in subjects such as Religious Studies and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE). 

History is only a required subject up to the age of 14 in the UK. However, GCSE and A-Level various exam boards, with the exception of those in Scotland, offer topics relating to the Holocaust for students aged 15 to 18.

A bill that is currently going through the House of Lords would require all schools, including academies, to follow the national curriculum.

An extensive survey, published by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany earlier this year, suggested that younger people lack basic knowledge about the Holocaust compared to older generations. The research revealed that a third of UK young adults aged 18 to 29, said that they did not know the names of any Nazi concentration camps or death camps. 

“The bleak picture emerging from this survey is of a growing gap of knowledge of the Holocaust, which is particularly concerning in countries where Nazi atrocities took place,” Yad Vashem chairman, Dani Dayan, said in a statement.