blighted adulthoods can be spotted while still in primary school from what is known about their personal and family circumstances. They have also found that a simple copying test that gauges a child’s ability to replicate shapes and simple patterns at the age of 5 is an extremely accurate predictor of later success in school and early adulthood. The predictive power of the new generation of educational, social and psychological assessments that can be carried out in primary and secondary schools is described in a report published today. It reviews some of the key findings that the Institute’s Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning has produced over the past nine years.

against Jews in Nazi Germany were legitimised and close to 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps in a single night. Dr Stuart Foster, reader in history in education and director of the project, explained that while the Holocaust is a compulsory part of the national curriculum, little is known about teachers’ attitudes and perceptions about it, and existing small-scale research suggests that many feel ill equipped to handle such a difficult and emotive subject. “This survey will shed light on the challenges that teachers face when teaching this complex and demanding subject,” he said. The researchers hope to find answers to such questions as: Why do teachers choose to teach about the Holocaust? How much time do they devote to it? Are there reasons why a teacher may hesitate to teach the subject? Does the background of the students affect this decision in any way?” The survey is part of a three-year £1.5 million project funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the charitable Pears Foundation, with support from the Holocaust Educational Trust. It will culminate in a national programme of courses to help teachers address the concerns and issues they encounter when teaching about the Holocaust. Questionnaires will be sent to teachers in all secondary schools in England between November and the end of this term, followed early next year by interviews and case studies. The content of the courses, to be delivered from eight regional centres, will be informed by the results. Ruth-Anne Lenga, a visiting fellow at the IOE and a specialist in Holocaust education, said: “As survivors of the Holocaust are decreasing, the greater is the responsibility on teachers to develop powerful strategies that will ensure the universal warnings of this atrocity are firmly understood in ways that encourage our children to conceive of and work for a more humane future.” The survey will be available at www.hedpuk.org from November 9.

Pre-school and Primary Education Project (EPPE 3-11). EPPE 3-11, based at the Institute of Education, London, has tracked 3,000 children from the time they started pre-school until age 11. For further information, see: The influences of school and teaching quality on children’s progress in primary school. DCSF RB028 http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RB028.pdf