TOLI is offering two programs to support its widening network of teachers and educators throughout Europe. First, TOLI has developed a pilot professional development program for 500 teachers from Romania and Bulgaria. The program consists of a series of webinars for teachers to expand their understanding of the Holocaust and human rights, learn about new and meaningful ways to address these topics with their students, exchange experiences, and plan inter-school collaboration.
The second program is TOLI’s Mini-grant program, where all alumni teachers of TOLI seminars in Europe have the opportunity to receive financial assistance and educational support for student projects focusing on the Holocaust and human rights.
After graduating the seminar, each teacher can apply every year for a project where they plan to involve their students in educational activities about the Holocaust and human rights, in creative, interactive and inspiring ways, in order to stimulate their learning and understanding both of the Holocaust and of present-day instances of social injustice, and in order to encourage students to act against stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination in their own environment.
In the previous school year, over 100 teachers received funding from the Mini-grant program, and most of them started to work on their projects when the Coronavirus pandemic upended their regular school courses. Some of the projects were adapted to an online format, while others were postponed for this school year. The next deadline of February 1, 2021 will surely be met with equal if not more enthusiasm from teachers, since the pandemic has given rise to a whole new surge of racist attitudes and behaviors in the public space.