International Educational Conference 2025 Post-conference publication | Page 28

SESSIONS OF BEST PRACTICES

Educational Work in Modern Diverse Communities

This part of the conference consisted in discussions about selected projects in smaller groups, summarized later by the moderators from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

Difficult-Simple Words, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Poland

Alicja Wójcik has received a degree in Cultural Studies from the Faculty of International and Political Studies of the Jagiellonian University and completed a postgraduate course in Museum Studies at the Jagiellonian University. In 2009, she became part of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Her responsibilities include the organisation of national and international education programs, seminars, and conferences for schoolchildren, students, and adults. Prior to that, Wójcik was responsible for

the organisation of temporary and travelling exhibitions and the supervision of the permanent exhibition in the Museum. For almost a year, she has been the Accessibility Coordinator, initiating solutions to increase the accessibility of the Auschwitz Memorial for people with diverse needs.

“Difficult-Simple Words” is a project of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust (ICEAH). It offers the possibility to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum within a special visit route dedicated to people with diverse intellectual needs. Much of the discussion concerned diversity and how the ABSM guides recognize the needs and expectations of the group and adapt the planned visit accordingly. Another issue raised was the things that educators learn from visitors with diverse needs. One of the key points mentioned was “less is more,” meaning that visitors in this project, although perceiving the historical facts differently, often professed a high level of understanding of the place.