Since teaching about controversial issues is risky, it should also be considered particularly challenging. As such, it requires good educational practices and strategies to minimize the risk of teaching becoming too controversial. 

This box invites you to critically examine your own teaching ability. Do you know how to teach controversial issues?

If you feel you lack the know-how to teach controversial issues, you are in good company. Research studies show that several educators feel that they lack this competence. Among other things, most testify that they have received little or no training in teaching controversial issues and therefore feel they lack the necessary pedagogical skills to teach them and handle any conflicts that arise.

To address this perceived shortcoming, researchers have recommended that high-quality professional training be offered to future and active educators on how to teach controversial issues. It may therefore be worthwhile to see which courses are offered on teaching controversial issues in your area. 

Another tip is to talk to your colleagues. Several of them have previously taught about controversial issues. By having a collegial conversation with them, you may get useful tips and ideas on how to structure your teaching. 

There are good materials that you can read

As teachers state that they lack competence in teaching controversial issues, material has been developed that assists in the teachers’ teaching. The following can be recommended:

Diana E. Hess, Controversy in the classroom: The democratic power of discussion. New York: Routledge, 2009.

This is a significant piece of writing in teaching about controversial issues. In it, Diane E. Hess summarizes much of the research she has done herself and the research that others do in relation to controversial issues.

Further information about the book can be found on the following page.

Papamichael et al., Living with Controversy: Teaching controversial issues through education for democratic citizenship and human rights: Training pack for teachers. Strasburg: Council of Europe, 2015.

This teacher’s guide provides a good introduction to teaching about controversial issues. It also contains various tips on how to structure your teaching on controversial issues.

The guide is available in several languages and can be obtained on the following page.

Ted Huddleston and David Kerr, Managing Controversy: Developing a Strategy for Handling Controversy and Teaching Controversial Issues in Schools. Strasburg: Council of Europe, 2017.

This guide looks at the structural prerequisites for teaching controversial issues and dealing with controversy in school. The guide is especially useful when you want to know what the role of leaders within the organization is, as well as how to handle a larger controversy.

The guide is available in several languages and can be obtained on the following page.

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

If you teach in a teacher education program or are thinking of organizing a course or workshop on teaching controversial issues, then you may want to read this book. In it, Judith L. Pace presents her observational study in which she followed four teachers who have taught future teachers how to teach about controversial issues.

Further information about the book can be found on the following page.

References

Hess, Diana E. Controversy in the classroom: The democratic power of discussion. The critical social thought series. New York: Routledge, 2009.

Huddleston, Ted, & David Kerr. Managing controversy: Developing a strategy for handling controversy and teaching controversial issues in schools. Strasburg: Council of Europe, 2017.

Kawashima-Ginsberg, Kei, Mary Ellen Daneels, & Noorya Hayat. ”Preparing teachers for current and controversial issue discussion”. In Making classroom discussions work: Methods for quality dialogue in the social studies, edited by Diana E. Hess & Jane C. Lo, 27–43. Research and practice in social studies series. New York: Teachers College Press, 2022.

Oulton, Christopher, Vanessa Day, Justin Dillon, & Marcus Grace. ”Controversial issues: Teachers’ attitudes and practices in the context of citizenship education”. Oxford Review of Education 30, 4 (2004): 489–507.

Oxfam Education. Teaching controversial issues: A guide for teachers. Oxfam Digital Repository, 2018. https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/620473/gd-teaching-controversial-issues-290418-en.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

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

Papamichael, Elena, Mary Gannon, Bojka Djukanovic, Rosa Garvín Fernández, David Kerr, & Ted Huddleston. Living with Controversy: Teaching controversial issues through education for democratic citizenship and human rights: Training pack for teachers. Strasburg: Council of Europe, 2015.

Robbins, Mandy, Leslie J. Francis, & Eleri Elliott. ”Attitudes toward education for global citizenship among trainee teachers”. Research in Education 69 (2003): 93–98.

Washington, Elizabeth Yeager, & Emma K. Humphries. ”A Social Studies Teacher’s Sense Making of Controversial Issues Discussions of Race in a Predominantly White, Rural High School Classroom”. Theory & Research in Social Education 39, 1 (January 2011): 92–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2011.10473448.

Other

If you feel that this tool 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).