The research clearly shows how important it is to create an open classroom environment that is supportive and trusting. There is a very high risk that teaching will be derailed if students do not treat each other with tolerance and respect.

If students do not accept that others have different opinions and also want to express them, what chance do you have as a teacher to deal with issues that may raise conflicts? 

The fact that they do not believe that the student group is permissive and supportive is one reason that teachers give for why they are not willing to teach controversial issues. These teachers testify to how difficult it is to create what is usually described in the research literature as an “open classroom climate” that is tolerant, based on a mutual exchange of ideas and a respectful treatment of differences.

Being able to create such environments that are permissive and supportive is therefore essential if you want to teach controversial issues. Thus, if students trust you and believe that you want their best, it will also be easier to use controversial issues in your teaching. 

If you feel that it is not a supportive and trusting group that you are encountering, you can go to the next box and ask yourself if it is possible to develop a group that is supportive and trusting. This, on the other hand, should be a matter for the staff as a whole. It is unreasonable to think that the individual teacher should be able to form such a group of students. If you feel that the student group needs to develop, you should therefore make it a collegial matter so that everyone of your colleagues works to develop the student group to become supportive and trusting.

Find out who the students are

If you are a substitute teacher or a new teacher, it may be difficult for you to know whether the student group you meet is supportive and trusting. Here, your colleagues therefore have a responsibility to tell you about the student group.

In particular, they should tell us if, for example, there is an issue that is particularly controversial within that group. Is there any past controversy that you need to know about? Or are there one or more minority groups whose experiences need attention? 

The more information you have about the student group, the better you will be able to prepare. In this way, hopefully you can avoid unnecessary conflicts. Therefore, if no one volunteers to describe the student group to you, you should ask those who previously taught the group if there are any challenges that you should be aware of. 

References

Hess, Diana E., och Paula McAvoy. The political classroom: Evidence and ethics in democratic education. New York: Routledge, 2015.

McAvoy, Paula, och Diana E. Hess. ”Classroom deliberation in an era of political polarization”. Curriculum Inquiry 43, nr 1 (2013): 14–47.

Pace, Judith L. Hard questions: Learning to teach controversial issues. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.

Other

If you feel that this decision map was helpful, please share it with your colleagues and others who could potentially use it.

For questions and comments, please contact Fredrik Portin, Malmö University (fredrik.portin@mau.se).