Teaching controversial issues in a fragile democracy: defusing deliberation in Israeli primary classrooms

Pollak, Itay; Segal, Aliza; Lefstein, Adam; Meshulam, Assaf

doi:10.1080/00220272.2017.1397757

Cited by 30 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Numerous studies have demonstrated the educational relevance of working with controversial topics in the social science classroom (Ortega-Sánchez and Pagès 2020; Ortega-Sánchez and Jiménez-Eguizábal 2019). Likewise, it has been shown that the curricular inclusion of these issues favours the promotion of the concept of active citizenship in educational contexts for democratic citizenship (Pollak et al 2017), and the development and acquisition of critical-reflective thinking skills (Misco 2013), especially absent in the curriculum and training plans of future teachers in Spain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Citizenship and Analysis of Social Facts: Results of a Study with Pre-Service Teachers

2020

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This article outlines how the dimensions of global citizenship education (GCE) are reflected in future secondary school teachers’ analysis of news items. The question that guided the research was: When analysing a news item with global implications, do teachers in training use the dimensions of the critical global citizenship education model and which critical literacy achieve? The study used a mixed methodology. Content analysis was used to analyse the information, specifically the use of codes through descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings show that the majority of future secondary school teachers tend to take a socially committed perspective, while they take a critical stance or mobilise for social justice action to a lesser extent.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Citizenship and Analysis of Social Facts: Results of a Study with Pre-Service Teachers

2020

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“…In the literature, the contingent nature of controversial issues is stressed, that is, it is difficult to predict what will be perceived as controversial in a particular context (Camicia, 2008). For example, in divided societies or conflict-laden areas, controversies may arise in relation to ethnic, religious, national, and ideological identities of the students, with consequences for classroom discourse (Hanna, 2017;Kello, 2016;Niens et al, 2013;Pollak et al, 2018;Tamir, 2015). The Swedish educational system is increasingly segregated in terms of socioeconomic and ethnic factors (SOU, 2017); this makes it difficult to anticipate which specific topics of study, or related questions, might be controversial, i.e., cause actual disagreement among the students and give rise to strong emotions in a specific classroom (Nilsson, 2018;Blennow, 2019).…”

Section: Pedagogical Approaches To Controversial Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Balancing refers to teaching that presents various perspectives and attempts by the teacher to present them as neutrally as possible. Pollak et al (2018) point to two additional approaches: Sidestepping the controversy, instead emphasising unifying messages that strip away socio-political complexities, and Scholasticising the discussion, that is, shifting the focus from content and toward literacy skills. Ljunggren andUnemar Öst (2010, 2011) analysed the Swedish part of ICCS 2009 (International civic and citizenship education study).…”

Section: Pedagogical Approaches To Controversial Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They tend to trigger strong emotions and divide opinions in communities and society as well as within classrooms (Kerr & Huddleston, 2015). Research (see, e.g., Anker & von der Lippe, 2018;King, 2009;McDermott & Lanahan, 2012;Niens, O'Connor, & Smith, 2013;Pollak, Segal, Lefstein, & Meshulam, 2018) has shown that teachers often find it difficult to handle issues perceived as controversial, with the end result being that they tend to avoid them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dealing with and teaching controversial issues – Teachers’ pedagogical approaches to controversial issues in Religious Education and Social Studies

Flensner

2020

ADNO

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Abstract What strategies do teachers use, in classroom practice, to handle issues highly contested in society? This article focuses on how the various Middle Eastern conflicts and related topics, theoretically framed as controversial issues, are dealt with in religious education and social studies classes. The aim is to analyse pedagogical approaches teachers applied in situations where topics associated with regional, cultural, and/or religious conflicts (e.g., migration, terrorism, radicalisation, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia) were part of the teaching. What approaches were distinguishable in classroom practice? How did teachers reflect on this teaching? To examine these issues, ethnographic observations were made of religious education and civics classes at upper secondary schools in Sweden; follow-up interviews with teachers and students were also conducted to discuss the classroom situations. The approaches to teaching such difficult subject matter, as distinguishable in the classroom, were avoidance, denial of the controversy, provocation, representing/considering various perspectives, and eliciting empathy. There was a division between approaches that endeavoured to tone down the controversy versus those aimed at making the controversy more apparent. This difference can be understood as dealing with controversial issues as opposed to teaching controversial issues, which is a fundamental difference in pedagogic approaches. Keywords: controversial issues, teaching strategies, religious education, social studies, classroom observations Att hantera och undervisa om kontroversiella frågor – Lärares didaktiska förhållningssätt till kontroversiella frågor i religionskunskap och samhällskunskap Sammandrag Vilka didaktiska förhållningssätt använder lärare i klassrummet för att hantera samhälleligt omtvistade och kontroversiella frågor? Den här artikeln fokuserar på hur Mellanösternskonflikterna och relaterade ämnen, teoretiskt inramade som kontroversiella frågor, behandlas i religionskunskaps- och samhällskunskapsundervisning. Syftet i föreliggande artikel är att analysera lärares didaktiska handlande i undervisningssituationer där ämnen förknippade med regionala, kulturella och/eller religiösa konflikter (t.ex. migration, terrorism, radikalisering, främlingsfientlighet, antisemitism och islamofobi) var en del av undervisningen. Vilka didaktiska ansatser kunde urskiljas i klassrummet? Hur reflekterade lärarna över denna undervisning? För att undersöka dessa frågor genomfördes etnografiska klassrumsobservationer av religionskunskaps- och samhällskunskapsundervisning på gymnasiet i Sverige; intervjuer med lärare och elever genomfördes också för att diskutera de observerade klassrumssituationerna. Analysen visar att centrala ansatser var undvikande, förnekande av kontroversen, provokation, representation av olika perspektiv, och strategier som syftade till att skapa empati. Det fanns en skillnad mellan undervisning som sökte tona ner kontroversen jämfört med undervisning som syftade till att synliggöra olika perspektiv och positioner i den kontroversiella frågan. Denna skillnad kan förstås som att hantera kontroversiella frågor jämfört med att undervisa om kontroversiella frågor. Nyckelord: kontroversiella frågor, undervisningsstrategier, religionskunskap, samhällskunskap, klassrumsobservationer

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“…And guidance and frameworks for good practice have emerged from teacher organisations (ACT, 2015), government (CCEA, 2015) and inter-governmental organisations (Kerr & Huddleston, 2015). Whilst the literature tends to reflect approaches to teaching in established democracies, there is also engagement with this approach in conflict-affected societies (Pollak et al, 2018) and new democracies (Chikoko et al, 2011). In England, the committee which recommended the introduction of citizenship into the national curriculum included an appendix on the importance of tackling controversial issues (QCA, 1998), which explicitly built on older tradition of humanities teaching (Stradling, Noctor and Baines, 1984;Wellington, 1986).…”

Section: Teaching Controversial Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching about terrorism, extremism and radicalisation: some implications for controversial issues pedagogy

Jerome

Elwick

2019

Oxford Review of Education

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Teaching controversial issues in a fragile democracy: defusing deliberation in Israeli primary classrooms

Cited by 30 publications

References 30 publications

Global Citizenship and Analysis of Social Facts: Results of a Study with Pre-Service Teachers

Global Citizenship and Analysis of Social Facts: Results of a Study with Pre-Service Teachers

Dealing with and teaching controversial issues – Teachers’ pedagogical approaches to controversial issues in Religious Education and Social Studies

Teaching about terrorism, extremism and radicalisation: some implications for controversial issues pedagogy

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