In this course, educators (including student-teachers, teachers, teacher assistants, youth workers, school leaders, etc.) are invited to critically engage with unplanned controversial issues that emerge in educational settings.
We begin by examining the distinctions between mainstream and thorny issues, and how educators act as gatekeepers when deciding whether to address or ignore them. The course explores the why behind decisions to engage with unplanned controversy, recognising the multiple factors that inform professional judgement and the complexity that underpins choices made in real time. We introduce analytic lenses to examine decisions, along with the tensions that shape responses when contentious issues arise. We also consider the role of emotions, neutrality, safety and disclosure in shaping the dynamics of the learning environment.
We examine how the decision to engage or ignore an unplanned controversial issue reveals the moral and political dimensions of education. Either way, the decision has implications of what is legitimised or marginalised in the learning environment, with implications for equity, social justice and democratic futures.
Throughout the course, cooperative activities create opportunities to work with authentic examples and exchange perspectives. Participants will also be provided with materials that allow them to explore possible approaches in practice, acknowledging that questions of why are always interrelated with questions of how.
Learning objectives
- Explore how unplanned controversial issues emerge in educational settings and understand the distinction between mainstream and thorny issues.
- Analyse the factors that inform in-the-moment responses to unplanned controversial issues and the role of educators as gatekeepers.
- Understand how neutrality, disclosure and emotions shape the dynamics of learning environments during contentious moments, and examine how concerns about personal and professional safety influence in-the-moment choices.
- Explore how decisions to engage or ignore unplanned controversial issues relate to the moral and political dimensions of education.
- Make more informed and intentional choices when faced with unplanned controversial issues.
