If one examines the research literature on teaching controversial issues, the teacher’s personal comfort in teaching controversial issues emerges as a decisive reason why teachers choose not to teach a controversial issue. This box touches on three different things that make teachers uncomfortable teaching controversial issues.

The teacher lacks knowledge

First, you may become uncomfortable teaching a controversial issue if you feel that you lack knowledge about the controversial issue. 

Many teachers state that they avoid teaching controversial issues because they feel that they do not always have the background knowledge required to be able to understand aspects of certain controversies themselves. This means that they do not feel that they have the expertise required to be able to teach about the controversial in a credible and deliberate way.

Thus, in order to teach a specific controversial issue, teachers want to feel that they have in-depth knowledge of the issue so that they can address all perspectives and opinions that are potentially raised by students in teaching. If they do not have that knowledge, they can choose to refrain from teaching about the controversial issue.

The teacher has not developed an opinion

Second, some teachers state that they are uncomfortable teaching a controversial issue when they do not feel that they themselves have developed their own opinion on the issue. 

Sometimes you haven’t had time to develop an opinion. Often, controversial issues have only recently become controversial in the public debate or schools. Therefore, you may not have had time to familiarize yourself with the issue or reflect on how you should position yourself in relation to it.

The fact that you do not have an opinion on a particular issue does not necessarily have to be an obstacle to teaching about the controversial issue. As a general rule, it is wise not to unnecessarily express your own opinions and perspectives when teaching. Instead, you and other teachers should let the opinions and perspectives expressed in the material or among the students be the focus.

If, on the other hand, you have not developed an opinion on the matter, it may invite a level of uncertainty for you in your teaching. For example, this may mean that you do not necessarily know how you will relate to the opinions and perspectives that are potentially expressed in the teaching, which makes it more difficult for you to respond to what is expressed. 

The teacher doubts that they are the right person to teach the controversial issue

Third, teachers sometimes ask themselves if they are the right person to teach a specific controversial issue. For example, a middle-aged man may find it problematic to teach about sexual violence against women. Or if a white person is to teach about racism to a group of mostly non-white students.

Consequently, the teacher might become uncomfortable teaching about a controversial issue because they think they have the legitimacy to teach it or lack credibility in the eyes of the students.

Alternatively, a teacher may doubt whether they should teach a controversial issue because they are too close to it. Contrary to the second reason described above, this may be a case of a teacher who has a very clear opinion on an issue. 

In other words, they are not able to let the opinions and perspectives of the material or the students be at the centre. Here the teacher becomes uncomfortable because they do not feel that they can be impartial in their teaching.

We can also imagine a teacher who is personally affected by the issue to be addressed. For example, a teacher may feel uncomfortable teaching refugee policy if he or she or someone in the family is a refugee. 

Whatever the reason is that you don’t feel comfortable, you should work with whatever challenges your comfort before teaching the controversial issue. Alternatively, you could instead ask someone else to teach about the question. And as a final solution, you can always consider not addressing the particular controversial issue at all.

References

Busey, Christopher L., och Evan Mooney. ”Controversy and social studies teacher education”. Academic Exchange Quarterly 18, nr 4 (2014): 113–18.

Goldberg, Tsafrir. ”Between Trauma and Perpetration: Psychoanalytical and Social Psychological Perspectives on Difficult Histories in the Israeli Context”. Theory & Research in Social Education 45, nr 3 (03 juli 2017): 349–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2016.1270866.

Misco, Thomas, och Nancy C. Patterson. ”A Study of Pre-Service Teachers’ Conceptualizations of Academic Freedom and Controversial Issues”. Theory & Research in Social Education 35, nr 4 (september 2007): 520–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2007.10473349.

Papamichael, Elena, Mary Gannon, Bojka Djukanovic, Rosa Garvín Fernández, David Kerr, och 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.

Parker, Walter C, och Diana E. Hess. ”Teaching with and for Discussion”. Teaching and Teacher Education 17, nr 3 (april 2001): 273–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00057-3.

Stradling, Robert. ”The Teaching of Controversial Issues: An Evaluation”. Educational Review 36, nr 2 (juni 1984): 121–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013191840360202.

Washington, Elizabeth Yeager, och 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, nr 1 (januari 2011): 92–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2011.10473448.

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).