Peace Education Scotland

Peace Education Scotland are a Scottish Charity (#SC046853) who aim to advance knowledge of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

Hiroshima 80th anniversary

The 6th August 2025 is the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. At 8:15am on 6th August 1945, the US bomber Enola Gay dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, killing up to 80,000 instantly. By year’s end, 140,000 had died from burns and radiation. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 74,000.

Peace Education Scotland has produced a module to help teachers discuss this event and stimulate discussions about nuclear weapons. Nuclear Weapons: Yes or No” is aimed at late primary to early secondary school pupils. All the booklets can be downloaded as PDFs from our Resources page – and the module which includes Hiroshima can be downloaded here: The Nuclear Weapons Debate

Survivor’s Stories – Hibakusha

Teachers of RME, Modern Studies or History are invited to book a free presentation with a moving talk:
•   Hibakusha video testimonies & stories and a presentation on the Hiroshima &  Nagasaki bombings
•  Q & A on nuclear weapons and roles of pressure groups. A great way to mark the International Day of Peace in your school, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Anniversaries, or as a valuable follow up to the Just War Unit and Pressure Groups lessons.
Book now to get the free presentation with videos and talk, or download some of the materials here: Survivor’s Stories PDF or PowerPoint .

Israel

Our resource “Nuclear Deterrence and Israel” explores the concept of nuclear deterrence and understand why Israel’s nuclear arsenal may or may not have prevented conflicts.

• israel-nuclear-weapons.pdf (PDF)
• israel-quiz.pptx (Powerpoint)
• israel-nuclear-deterrence.pptx  (Powerpoint)

We aim to answer young people’s questions, provide references for teachers, and encourage discussion on current events. Recent studies show broad support for more information, debate, and education on nuclear disarmament.

The Doomsday Clock

On 28th January 2025 the Doomsday clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight (download our free resource about the Doomsday clock).
Created in 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the doomsday clock is a symbol that reflects the risk of man-made threats to the world. Our free resource  contains further information and an exercise for pupils.

Oppenheimer

To mark the release of the Oppenheimer film, the Peace Education Network (PEN) with Quakers in Britain,and Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) have released lessons examining the legacy of early atomic scientists. [ Download the free resources via this link.]
This resource includes a presentation with quotes and fascinating biographical facts about scientists incuding Einstein, Heisenberg,Szilard and Bohr (who all featured in the Oppenheimer film) and it may be of particular interest to science departments.

Environmental Costs of Nuclear Weapons – COP26/27 Resources

Our booklet “Environmental Costs of Nuclear Weapons” is a useful resource for educators, politicians, or anyone wishing to have an informed debate on nuclear weapons.

Covering topics such as climate and resource related conflicts, adverse effects from nuclear tests and uranium mining, radioactive and toxic discharges, the close links between civil nuclear power stations and weapons programmes, and the large ‘carbon bootprint’ of the military – the booklet also includes useful links and references.

It is available to download here https://www.peaceeducationscotland.org/docs/nuclear-environment-booklet.pdf, or contact info@peaceeducationscotland.org for printed copies.

Videos – Environment & Morality

Nuclear Weapons and the Environment – our short video about the environmental effects of Nuclear Weapons is a resource especially suitable for discussions around COP26.

(direct link, and also available Subtitled or Audio Described)

Nuclear Weapons and Morality – a short video about the moral questions around nuclear weapons. Includes religious and non-religious ideas on the morality and ethics of weapons of mass destruction.

(direct link, and also available Subtitled or Audio Described)(Subtitled version here: )

This video complements our Morality module detailing the moral, ethical and legal arguments surrounding the possession and use of Nuclear Weapons and our ‘Morality – Just War Theory’ Powerpoint presentation

Resources – Modern Studies / COVID19

Modern Studies – Scottish Higher

New material by Peace Education Scotland relevant to the Modern Studies Higher exam was presented to the Modern Studies Association (MSA) in November 2020.
Our ‘Objectivity Questions’ presentation can be downloaded free from this website as a Powerpoint and PDF and considers the objectivity question from Paper 2 of 2019.

COVID-19 & Nuclear weapons

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised financial, moral and ethical questions about spending on nuclear weapons versus spending on our health service. Peace Education Scotland have provided an information sheet for teachers and home educators which aims to summarise some of these issues, together with some practical considerations such as “social distancing” on a nuclear-armed submarine. It includes sample questions, curriculum links and references. Download it here: COVID-19 and Nuclear Weapons

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