Classroom management and emotional regulation in Holocaust education: a qualitative video-based single case study in a secondary school

Abstract

ABSTRACT Holocaust education is supposed to equip students with historical knowledge. It also pursues moral learning goals with the objective of enabling students to actively engage for human rights. However, teachers frequently report concerns about teaching the Holocaust because they feel unprepared to deal with intense emotional responses by the students. Classroom research suggests that teachers usually apply classroom management strategies to deal with unexpected student behaviours. For this reason, it can be assumed that teachers also apply classroom management strategies to deal with students’ emotional responses when teaching the Holocaust. However, little is known about this specific function of classroom management in Holocaust teaching. Therefore, this paper reports on findings from an exploratory, video-based single-case study in an urban secondary school in Germany. The results suggest that the participating teacher uses an avoidant classroom management to establish a joyful lesson and repress latent fear and sadness among the students.