Background

Founded by Holocaust survivors in 1984, the Melbourne Holocaust Museum (MHM) has educated more than 800,000 students and currently houses more than 1,500 Survivor testimonies and approximately 20,000 artifacts. In 2021, the MHM embarked on a series of focus groups and qualitative data collection to analyze the impact of their education programs. This identified an important need to make Holocaust education relevant to ensure long-term sustainability. The MHM developed an innovative learning framework that connected knowledge of the Holocaust with the development of character strengths. In 2022, the MHM engaged the University of Melbourne, Centre for Wellbeing Science (CWS) to work with them to refine their Learning Framework to incorporate the research in character education.

Aims

To pioneer a new model for Holocaust education that amplifies the experiences of our survivors through multi-modal learning and ensures long-term relevancy to spark change within individuals. We do this by delivering transformative learning experiences on the Holocaust that focus on character strengths and our power as individuals to change the world.

Method

This presentation will outline the method of integrating wellbeing science with Holocaust education undertaken by the partnership between the MHM and CWS. This partnership included the development of a theory-based process for implementation, underpinned by learning science, wellbeing science, contemporary educational practices, and human-centred design (Colla, 2022). Additionally, a series of professional learning workshops were delivered to skill up the education team to infuse wellbeing into their delivery of Holocaust education.

Results

This presentation will outline the evaluation framework that was developed and some of the emerging data on the impact of this body of work through a systems lens that includes the experiences of students, educators, and the Holocaust survivors involved in the programs. 

Conclusion

We conclude with some of the key lessons learned by integrating an interdisciplinary approach to facilitating wellbeing in arts and cultural programs.