Learning Resources & Publications

The resources on this page are designed to allow pupils at various stages to develop their understanding of the lived experiences and legacies of British Second World War COs alongside their knowledge of the Second World War more broadly. Lesson plans are primarily based on extracts from stories contained within the CO map on this website’s home page and interviews with former COs held in the Imperial War Museum’s Sound Archive. The lessons are arranged thematically, with questions, tasks, and sources provided in each instance.

The resources and lesson plans are particularly relevant for KS2 History and Scottish Advanced Higher History modules and have clear links to both curricula, although they could be adapted for pupils at different stages.

Lesson 1 provides students with a general introduction to conscientious objection in Britain during the Second World War, exploring the lives, experiences, and work of British COs both on the Home Front and abroad. It gives an overview of why COs rejected military service – considering religious, political, moral, and humanitarian objection to war – and asks pupils to explore some of the contested and conflicting attitudes towards COs.

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Lesson 2 enables pupils to develop their understanding of the Second World War Home Front by exploring the lived experiences of British COs. In doing so, it highlights the numerous ways in which COs contributed to the national war effort, albeit in non-military capacities. While COs may have been unwilling to bear arms, they nevertheless exposed themselves to risk and danger and did much to alleviate the suffering caused by the conflict.

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Lesson 3 shifts the focus from the local and national perspective, to examine the work of COs on an international level. Using the interactive CO map, the lesson reveals the important humanitarian and relief work carried out by COs who worked across the globe throughout the Second World War. COs spent time in Norway, Finland, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Ethiopia, India, Burma, and China (among other places).

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Lesson 4 focuses on objection in relation to questions of manliness and masculinity. The lesson details some of the pressures faced by COs during the Second World War, before examining governmental and public attitudes toward COs and how objectors confronted notions of duty, bravery, cowardice, and manliness during war.

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Lesson 5 introduces students to oral history through the lens of Second World War COs. The lesson demonstrates that oral history provides a unique insight into both COs and the broader experience of the Second World War in Britain. In doing so, it asks students to reflect upon oral history as a research method and to consider both the benefits and some of the limitations of using interviews and oral testimonies in historical research.

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Lesson 6 explores the ways in which conscientious objectors have been commemorated and memorialised in Britain since 1945. While the Second World War forms an important part of contemporary British culture and popular memory, conscientious objectors are almost entirely absent from official, institutional commemorations of the conflict. This lesson therefore encourages pupils to think about remembrance practices surrounding the Second World War in Britain and to investigate why COs might be absent from popular forms of commemoration.

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Lesson 7 looks at the structures and processes faced by individuals who wished to declare as a CO during the Second World War. In particular, it focuses on tribunals and the experiences of those who had to make their case before a tribunal panel. More broadly, the lesson encourages pupils to think about some of the internal and societal pressures facing COs alongside some of the attitudes towards, and (mis)treatment of, COs during the war.

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Lesson 8 examines the moral and ethical dilemmas faced by objectors during the Second World War, alongside some of the familial, societal, and internal pressures experienced by COs when faced with the prospect of serving in the military. While anxiety, doubt, and uncertainty were common emotions among COs, many also remained steadfast in their objection to war throughout the conflict.

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