Teachers urged to tackle antisemitism as new national education programme launches

Jewish pupils are being advised to remove school uniforms that identify them as Jewish, families are moving children to different schools because of antisemitic abuse, and Jewish teachers are facing increasing hostility in the classroom, Baroness Berger warned at the launch of a new government-backed education programme this week.

Speaking at Parliament on Tuesday, the Baroness said antisemitism had become an increasingly pressing challenge across the education system as she launched the Tackling Antisemitism in Education scholarship, a programme designed to equip teachers, lecturers and education staff with the confidence and practical skills to recognise and respond to anti-Jewish racism.

The Department for Education-funded programme, which will be delivered by Palace Yard, is available to schools, colleges and universities across England. Participants will complete modules alongside attending learning sessions and will receive CPD accreditation.

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Addressing educators, parliamentarians and community leaders, Berger described the experiences of Jewish families who have seen antisemitism become an increasingly visible part of school life.

“We’ve had parents who’ve had to move their children to a different school because of the antisemitism that they faced,” she said. “Some schools are recommending that Jewish children take off their uniforms because they have identifying features.” She added that Jewish pupils were being targeted because they wore kippot, Stars of David or attended Jewish schools, while Jewish teachers in non-Jewish schools were also experiencing abuse.

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Berger said much of the hostility encountered by young people was being fuelled online, warning that social media algorithms were exposing children to extremist and antisemitic material within a matter of minutes.

“We know that children and young people are often parroting what they see online,” she said, arguing that education remained the most effective way to challenge prejudice before it was too late.

She said: “Education is the key to unpicking and challenging these misconceptions and prejudices. We need to ensure that educators have the skills to recognise antisemitism, and feel empowered and have the confidence to call it out.”

Lord John Mann, the UK Government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, said the programme represented a shift away from responding to incidents towards  equipping every educational institution with the knowledge to recognise and address antisemitism effectively.

“If you’re not sure what’s working and how it’s working, you can’t tackle prejudice and discrimination,” he said, stressing that evaluating the programme’s impact would be just as important as delivering it.

Lord Mann argued that responsibility for tackling antisemitism should sit within every school, college and university.

“The way to deal with antisemitism in a university, in a college, or in a school, is to deal with it within that institution,” he said. “Somebody must have the basic knowledge of what antisemitism is, and the basic skill for dealing with prejudice.”

Drawing on his experience working across government, the peer said even senior officials often lacked a basic understanding of Jewish history and Britain’s Jewish community, despite that knowledge being fundamental to recognising the lived experiences of Jewish pupils and staff.

“That basic knowledge can be taught in five minutes,” he said. “But if you don’t know that, how can you know how someone who you don’t even know is Jewish… is handling problems?”

He said the programme would help ensure educators had the confidence to respond appropriately when antisemitism occurred, adding that “having people with that basic understanding, that basic bit of training, is fundamental.”

The scholarship has been developed by Palace Yard to provide educators with those practical tools, organisers said.

Participants will study Britain’s Jewish community, the history and evolution of antisemitism, contemporary forms of anti-Jewish hatred and practical approaches to responding to incidents in educational settings.

The training programme, which is expected to start on 1 November, will also involve learning how to facilitate “difficult” discussions on Palestine/Israel and helping students to stop mis- and dis-information.

Berger praised the partnership between Palace Yard and the Union of Jewish Students, whose university training programme complements the new initiative and helps create what she described as “a coherent evidence-based approach across the entire education landscape.”

Calling on schools and education leaders to champion the programme, Palace Yard CEO and former Labour MP Natascha Engel said tackling antisemitism could not be left to the Jewish community alone.

“The Jewish community can’t tackle antisemitism alone,” she said. “Tackling antisemitism is the responsibility of all of us.”

She concluded: “Together, we can ensure that every young person in this country learns in an environment where antisemitism is recognised, it’s challenged, and it’s never tolerated.”