Report: Training for educators

Between 2nd and 8th February 2014, the Museum education centre hosted a training for educators, titled “Testimony-based education in the 21st century”. Participants to the training learnt, among other things, how to use the resources of the Visual History Archive of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute.

Ten experienced educators (some of the Ambassadors of the Museum) took a week of training to learn how to browse the world’s largest collection of video testimonies of witnesses and survivors of the Shoah and the genocide in Rwanda. They could find out how to draw up education materials on the basis of testimonies, which can later be used by other Polish teachers. During an intensive course, the participants not only learnt how to make practical use of the Visual History Archive, but also discovered the philosophy that informs the education activities of the USC Shoah Foundation. They found out about the ways to tap into oral history, to avoid potential traps in using the testimonies of the Survivors in education materials; they saw examples of manipulating video footage. Now, they are aware how to make ethical use of such material.

The participants also spent many hours with unique, emotional and extremely valuable testimonies of the people who survived the greatest human tragedy of the 20th century.

In a year, the same group will meet at the Museum again to share the results of their year’s work within the project carried out jointly by the USC Shoah Foundation and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

The training was possible owing to the support of Andrew Intrater – honourable donor of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute.