Controversial Issues: Identifying the Concerns and Priorities of Student Teachers

Abstract

The theoretical framework of this article considers the significant place of education in the socialisation and enculturation of children. This requires that student teachers develop critical pedagogies as a means of promoting equity, pupil voice and democratic structures in schools. Key to this is Cole's concept of 'isms' and 'phobias', and the need to prepare student teachers to address them, and to evaluate both formal and hidden curricula. This article outlines the findings of a small-scale study that explored student teachers' views on elements of issues-based education, the content of their training courses, and their personal priorities and apprehensions. It involved student teachers in eight universities in England during 2008-09. This article outlines the full range of responses to the survey and students' reasons for their priorities. The findings provide a context for providers of initial teacher education to consider the content and focus of their programmes.

Tackling Controversial Issues in Primary Education: Perceptions and Experiences of Student Teachers

“…Examples include those on whether experimentation should take place on human embryos, the availability of abortion or divorce, the introduction of same-sex marriage or whether religion should be a part of the school curriculum. By my definition, a controversial issue must be addressed through reasoned reflection, debate and evaluation (Woolley 2011). It is not enough for it to stimulate disagreement, it must be the result of reasoned and evidence-based critical reflection.…”

“…As I argued a decade ago, the issues explored in this article are controversial for a range of reasons (Woolley 2010(Woolley , 2011. Many relate to Cole's (2008) notion of 'isms' and phobias that include classism, racism/xenoracism, xenophobia, sexism, disablism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and Islamophobia.…”

Pre-service Science Teachers’ Integration of Constructivist Ideas in the Lecture Method

“…Remarkably, the study found that the majority of the participants did not implement the practices for facilitating small group discussions. Educational researchers agree that small group discussions are a cognitive engagement embedded in constructivism, but which is not widely applied (Eggen & Kauchak, 2012;Jacobsen et al, 2009), particularly if the participants were likely unaccustomed to the practice (Ersoy, 2010;Woolley, 2011) they will lack a vision of implementing the practice.…”

“…To influence pre-service teacher's knowledge, understanding and skills for application of teaching methods, teacher preparation programmes provide mandatory methods courses and supervised experiential learning (Ersoy, 2010;Woolley, 2011). While the methods' courses provides a vision of teaching practices with the potential to alter the pre-service teachers' preconception about teaching (Ambusaidi & Al-Balushi, 2012;Buldur, 2017), experiential learning on TP provides opportunities for pre-service teachers to enact and reflect on their understanding amid pedagogical support from peers and supervisors (Kazempour & Sadler, 2015;Ochanji et al, 2015;Tesfaw & Hofman, 2014).…”

The classroom in turmoil: teachers’ perspective on unplanned controversial issues in the classroom

“…For the most part, existing empirical research focuses on strategies and challenges of teaching controversial issues that are part of syllabi within subjects that are traditionally associated with controversial issues (Cotton, 2006;Hand & Levinson, 2012;Kello, 2016;Oulton et al, 2004;Woolley, 2011;Zembylas & Kambani, 2012). A recurrent theme within the literature is avoidance -even when controversial issues are part of the syllabus, teachers will avoid teaching them for a variety of reasons.…”