Numerous articles and books focus on questions about teaching controversial issues in the classroom, and these controversial issues are on the educational agenda in many countries. The modest goal of this essay is to lay the necessary groundwork for a discussion and study of the goals for teaching controversial issues in schools, in order to…

The author reflects upon how her field of African American history is in the crosshairs of this most recent battle of the nation's culture war. Once maybe regarded as a niche or narrow area of history (although it is not), African American history has become one of many targets of legislative and activist efforts to end the teaching of honest,…

Even though religious schools are common in Australia, many government schools provide religious instruction (RI) classes. Religious instruction involves students being segregated into faith based groups so as to receive instruction in the beliefs and practices of "one" religion. This practice also occurs in many other countries. In…

Shared understanding of what words mean is critical for understanding and having meaningful discussion within professional circles and between the profession and the public. For over six decades, the term "reading wars" has been used in scholarship and popular media to describe debates about how to teach reading. In this article, the…

This article compares the attitudes of teachers located in Spain and the United Kingdom toward the integration of LGBTIQ+ issues in their teaching, reflects on teacher training and proposes recommendations to improve teacher education. Drawing on data gathered from 447 teachers located in both countries, the study reveals that the participants…

An analysis of misinformation, disinformation, perverse rhetorical devices, and the origin of the Critical Race Theory (CRT) controversy were presented, as well as the motivations of those most likely to share misinformation and crisis communication strategies. The purpose of this mixed method study was to explore Ohio Superintendents' levels of…

Drawing upon three individual interviews with each of five students enrolled in a first-year writing (FYW) course I observed throughout a semester, this dissertation explores how a group of socially privileged students emotionally experienced, interpreted, and responded to discourses of differences encountered in their FYW course. Contributing to…

The higher education learning environment has always been an ideological battleground. We must collectively interrogate how we holistically construct an educational learning environment that is reflective of our values.

College and university classrooms, curricula, and credentials have always been an ideological battleground of clashing values and perspectives that shift the answers to the question of what the learning environment should be. A crucible moment of legislative attacks on diversity initiatives, congressional interventions into university leadership,…

Effective social studies education involves inquiry into and discussions of controversial social and political issues and difficult topics. In the current polarized political climate, exemplified by the emergence of divisive concepts legislation, the ability of social justice-oriented social studies teachers to provide highly effective instruction…

This study delves into the intricate dynamics of controversial issues in environmental education, challenging conventional notions. It explores the relationship between "controversy" and the field of environmental education, elucidating its multifaceted dimensions in and ambitions of teaching practice. In dialogue with previous research…

Though scholarship has long championed the positive impacts of classroom considerations of controversial or difficult issues, teachers have often hesitated to broach divisive topics for numerous reasons, including legislation purporting to limit controversy in classrooms and, often, that they had limited or no preparation to teach controversies,…

In recent years, state policies banning "divisive concepts" have proliferated as part of a coordinated effort to undermine racial justice by framing critical discussions of race as "indoctrination" and imposing ideological restrictions on curriculum and pedagogy. Using critical policy discourse analysis informed by a critical…

This essay elaborates on the notion of risk in relation to democratically challenging situations in education. This refers to situations in which liberal democratic values are potentially challenged, such as in teaching about controversial issues and in moments of expressions of hurtful speech, which can create in teachers an ambivalence for how…

Educational-theoretical discussions of open-mindedness and closed-mindedness focus on the moral benefits and hazards of these dispositions in pedagogical encounters with the new and hitherto alien. Such discussions often employ spatial metaphors of openness and rely on politically safe examples to illustrate ambiguous enactments of open-mindedness…