An academic dedicated to Holocaust teaching has been recognised in the latest Honour’s List.

Dr Paula Cowan, a Reader in Education at University of the West of Scotland (UWS) and founder and Director of Vision Schools Scotland, has been awarded an MBE for services to Holocaust Education and Remembrance.

Originally a primary teacher, Dr Cowan has engaged in teacher education and Holocaust educational research for more than twenty years. She has collaborated with organisations such as the Anne Frank Trust UK, the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the European Association of History Educators and the National Holocaust Centre and Museum. Paula is a founding trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and a UK delegate on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance where she contributed to the internationally recognised Recommendations for Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust (TLH).

Since its launch in 2017, the programme delivered by the University of the West of Scotland in partnership with the Holocaust Educational Trust, has garnered widespread praise for its ability to support teachers across Scotland by providing a range of free professional development opportunities. These include organising online shared practice events, providing new resources, hosting the first international teacher conference in TLH in Glasgow in 2024, and organising a teacher seminar in Lublin, Poland in July this year.

Vision Schools Scotland is funded by the Scottish Government and has received additional funding for specified projects from the UK Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Claims Conference and the Association of Jewish Refugees. 

The Vision Schools Scotland programme aims to promote excellence in Holocaust teaching by identifying and rewarding schools that embed Holocaust education in their teaching; creating opportunities for teachers to share good practice of school-based Holocaust education; and promoting continued professional learning in Holocaust education to teachers. 

Dr Paula Cowan said:

 

It is an honour to receive this reward. I am especially grateful to the University of the West of Scotland, the Association of Jewish Refugees and the Gordon Cook Foundation for their initial funding as, without this, Vision Schools Scotland would simply not have continued past the piloting stage. My thanks also to university colleagues on the Vision Schools Scotland Team who have made this project such a success.

 

“Teaching the Holocaust in schools can be challenging, and Vision Schools Scotland has continued to grow during unpredictable and turbulent times. Starting with three schools, today the Vision Schools Scotland network comprises nearly 80 schools. This growth has meant that Vision Schools Scotland has extended its remit and now engages in academic research. This contributes to Holocaust Education and Remembrance in another dynamic way and brings national and international recognition to the University.  

“I hope to continue to grow and develop the programme, with the support of our partners at UWS and the Scottish Government, to reach even more schools so that the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten.”

Professor James Miller, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of UWS, said, “On behalf of everyone at UWS, I’d like to offer my congratulations to Dr Paula Cowan on her MBE.”

“Vision Schools Scotland’s aim to empower educators to teach this difficult subject is especially relevant at a time when our communities can feel more divided and polarised than ever.

“This award is testament to the many years Dr Cowan has dedicated to Holocaust education and the hard work she has put in to not only setting up the Vision Schools Scotland programme, but ensuring it has thrived since 2017.”