New Zealand teachers are reporting an increasing amount of Holocaust denial, neo-Nazi language and other extremist views among students.
This has prompted the country’s secondary teachers’ union to develop new guidance for schools.
The Post Primary Teachers’ Association Te Wehengarua is seeking an expert to prepare resources for teachers dealing with antisemitism, racism, homophobia, misogyny and far-right extremism.
PPTA acting president Chris Abercrombie, a history and social studies teacher, told RNZ’s Checkpoint he had encountered students denying the Holocaust and arguing that human rights should not apply to everyone.
“I’ve had students deny the Holocaust in class when we’re talking about it,” he said.
“I’ve had students write essays about that kind of stuff, talk about not everyone deserves human rights, those kind of things there, and it’s increasingly becoming more and more common.”
Abercrombie said the behaviour was not present in every school, but teachers were seeing and hearing it more often.
He said social media algorithms were exposing young people to increasingly extreme material, with online misogyny, deepfakes and image-based abuse also affecting schools.
The union said teachers should not be left to confront the problem without training, resources and wider support from the education system.
The New Zealand Ministry of Education told RNZ it was considering the union’s concerns and recognised the effect harmful online material could have in classrooms.
It said the refreshed curriculum included tools to help students identify misinformation and extremist content, while schools could also seek support from Netsafe, Network for Learning and Bullying-Free NZ.
The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand told RNZ that antisemitism and Holocaust denial were affecting classrooms whether they came from the far right or far left.
“This reality shows just how critical comprehensive Holocaust education is for students and teachers to confront this and all forms of hate and disinformation,” the centre said on Facebook.
It said it offered schools resources, workshops and guidance to combat antisemitism and intolerance.
Schools seeking assistance can contact [email protected].