Celebrate or commemorate? The Department for Education and VE Day
The DfE’s recent communication to schools about the 70th anniversary of VE Day on 8 May suggests that schools ‘will want to celebrate and commemorate’ the event. This is the third set of learning materials promoted by the DfE within the past year around military issues. Do ‘celebrations’ around remembrance events inevitably drown out the more cautious messages about the price of victory?
8 May 2015 isn’t just the day after the general election. It’s also the 70th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) – the day in 1945 following the unconditional surrender of Germany to Britain, the USA, France and Russia, which marked the end of the 1939-45 war in Europe.
The Department for Education, on their page on the Times Education Supplement website, states that ‘the whole country will come together at 3pm on 8 May for a 2 minute silence to reflect on the sacrifices made, not just by those in the Armed Forces, but by civilians such as Land Girls and those in Reserved Occupations. Throughout the United Kingdom, there will be three days of celebrations ranging from a parade and a Service of Thanksgiving, to street parties around the UK and a star-studded concert in central London…Schools will also want to celebrate and commemorate the day’.… Read more