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Controversial issues: teachers’ attitudes and practices in the context of citizenship education

Controversial issues: teachers’ attitudes and practices in the context of citizenship education
Controversial issues: teachers’ attitudes and practices in the context of citizenship education
Current conceptions of citizenship favour public involvement in dialogue on controversial issues such as GM food. ‘Students with higher levels of civic knowledge are more likely to expect to participate in political and civic activities as adults’ (Kerr, Lines, Blenkinsop and Schagen undated, p. 4). Young people need to be aware of the nature of controversy and be able to see how arguments are constructed to sway our opinions if they are to be fully scientifically literate. A survey of the literature suggests that the principles and methods relating to the teaching of controversial issues are themselves controversial. This irony is more relevant to teachers now than ever before. In England, the teaching of ‘Citizenship’ has been compulsory for students aged 11-16 in the state sector since September 2002. As it is currently framed, ‘Citizenship’ includes education for sustainable development and the teaching of the nature of controversy. This paper explores the issue of teachers’ readiness to use controversial issues in the classroom, and reports on research involving focus groups and questionnaires. We suggest that many teachers are under-prepared and feel constrained in their ability to handle this aspect of their work. We conclude by offering a set of foci for developing support materials to help teachers be more effective at teaching controversial issues.
controversial issues, citizenship education, school, teaching
0305-4985
489-507
Oulton, Christopher
0015cca4-76de-4d55-9374-49fd2989e7f0
Day, Vanessa
b6269676-0a39-4839-8b10-e9713954beac
Dillon, Justin
b95c72b4-ae2e-4054-9015-6cf4484a17dd
Grace, Marcus
bb019e62-4134-4f74-9e2c-d235a6f89b97
Oulton, Christopher
0015cca4-76de-4d55-9374-49fd2989e7f0
Day, Vanessa
b6269676-0a39-4839-8b10-e9713954beac
Dillon, Justin
b95c72b4-ae2e-4054-9015-6cf4484a17dd
Grace, Marcus
bb019e62-4134-4f74-9e2c-d235a6f89b97

Oulton, Christopher, Day, Vanessa, Dillon, Justin and Grace, Marcus (2004) Controversial issues: teachers’ attitudes and practices in the context of citizenship education. Oxford Review of Education, 30 (4), 489-507. (doi:10.1080/0305498042000303973).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Current conceptions of citizenship favour public involvement in dialogue on controversial issues such as GM food. ‘Students with higher levels of civic knowledge are more likely to expect to participate in political and civic activities as adults’ (Kerr, Lines, Blenkinsop and Schagen undated, p. 4). Young people need to be aware of the nature of controversy and be able to see how arguments are constructed to sway our opinions if they are to be fully scientifically literate. A survey of the literature suggests that the principles and methods relating to the teaching of controversial issues are themselves controversial. This irony is more relevant to teachers now than ever before. In England, the teaching of ‘Citizenship’ has been compulsory for students aged 11-16 in the state sector since September 2002. As it is currently framed, ‘Citizenship’ includes education for sustainable development and the teaching of the nature of controversy. This paper explores the issue of teachers’ readiness to use controversial issues in the classroom, and reports on research involving focus groups and questionnaires. We suggest that many teachers are under-prepared and feel constrained in their ability to handle this aspect of their work. We conclude by offering a set of foci for developing support materials to help teachers be more effective at teaching controversial issues.

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Published date: 2004
Keywords: controversial issues, citizenship education, school, teaching

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 12656
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/12656
ISSN: 0305-4985
PURE UUID: 4dc83087-02b7-456a-8a5a-d0df287a7f05
ORCID for Marcus Grace: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1949-1765

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Date deposited: 13 Dec 2004
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:43

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Contributors

Author: Christopher Oulton
Author: Vanessa Day
Author: Justin Dillon
Author: Marcus Grace ORCID iD

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