Remembering the First World War: Using a battlefield tour of the Western Front to help pupils take a more critical approach to what they encounter

The first year of the government's First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme is now under way, allowing increasing numbers of students from across Britain to visit Western Front battle sites.

As its Programme Director, Jerome Freeman has sought to encourage teachers to make these visits meaningful and historically rigorous. He tackles the problem of whisking students from cemetery to cemetery, leaving them bewildered and unable to process what they have seen.

In this article, Freeman argues that the use of structured learning activities during a battlefield tour allows pupils to engage with the issue of how the First World War is remembered. His suggestions of how to encourage pupils to consider the issue of remembrance at five battlefield sites are designed to move pupils on from ‘historical tourism', and towards more critical reflection upon the purposes of memorialisation.