How extraordinary that funding for the Lessons from Auschwitz programme for senior Scottish pupils might be redirected into other areas. As indicated in Paula Cowan’s article (TESS October 24), this project is of huge significance and value.

Having taught in the same Ayrshire school for nearly 25 years, I have rarely witnessed an initiative which has so effectively motivated and inspired teenagers. Participating students from this school have been fired into action. Creatively, responsibly and confidently, they have devised a range of processes through which they have raised others’ awareness about racism, prejudice and anti-semitism.

Importantly, they have done so because they participated in active learning: they took part in preparatory groupwork with other schools, and spent time on site at Auschwitz - listening, exploring and note-taking.

If our political leaders and employers want to help develop a Scottish nation which is more caring, more thoughtful and more inclusive, then this project should be fully supported and funded. If they value peer learning and really want to produce confident learners, effective contributors and young people with a developed sense of global citizenship, the LFA programme should be cherished.

Brian Gibson, Stewarton Academy, East Ayrshire.