Learning how to handle controversial issues in schools and other education settings E-Book

David Kerr

• Herausgeber: Council of Europe
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 91

Beschreibung

Learning how to deal with controversial issues is at the heart of education for democratic citizenship and human rights education. Highlighting best practices from case studies across Europe, this guide offers innovative approaches and practical tools to handle controversy in schools effectively. Controversy and controversial issues are at the centre and at all levels of our democratic societies. This means that learning how to deal with such issues must always be at the heart of an effective education for democratic citizenship and human rights education (EDC/HRE). That learning takes place in schools and other education settings as children and young people progress in their education from early years, through primary, lower secondary and upper-secondary phases, into tertiary and higher education and beyond. The Council of Europe has an outstanding record in promoting education for democratic citizenship, human rights education and intercultural dialogue, and in fostering and teaching about the importance of democratic culture. It is therefore fitting that the Council of Europe, in partnership with the European Union, through the Joint Programme “Democratic and Inclusive School Culture in Operation” (DISCO) – formerly known as the Human Rights and Democracy in Action Pilot Projects Scheme – has helped to facilitate the creation of this very timely good practice guide, which complements the manuals Teaching controversial issues and Managing controversy.

Leseprobe

 

LEARNING HOW TO HANDLE CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN SCHOOLS AND OTHER EDUCATION SETTINGS

 

A GOOD PRACTICE GUIDE

 

Using the manuals Teaching controversial issues and Managing controversy

 

David Kerr and Ted Huddleston Young Citizens (UK)

Contents

 

Click here to see the whole table of contents, or go on the « Table of contents » option of your eReader.

Acknowledgements

Learning how to handle controversial issues in schools and other education settings –A good practice guide is published in the Framework of the European Union/Council of Europe Joint Programme Democratic and Inclusive School Culture in Operation (DISCO), which aims to implement the principles of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education.

Authors

David Kerr and Ted Huddleston, Young Citizens, London, United Kingdom

Partners

Organisations and individuals in countries across Europe who participated in the original piloting of the two manuals Teaching controversial issues and Managing controversy, many of whom have gone on to further disseminate, to provide training based on, and to promote the manuals within their countries and regions and across their networks.

Individuals and organisations who were willing to share their approaches and practice and who sent us information and case studies for inclusion in this good practice guide.

Council of Europe

Katia Dolgova-Dreyer, Arzu Burcu-Tuner and Gloria Mannazzu

Preface

Controversy and controversial issues are at the centre and at all levels of our democratic societies. This means that learning how to deal with such issues must always be at the heart of an effective education for democratic citizenship and human rights education (EDC/HRE). That learning takes place in schools and other education settings as children and young people progress in their education from early years, through primary, lower secondary and upper-secondary phases, into tertiary and higher education and beyond. As Professor (Sir) Bernard Crick noted in his seminal report of 1998, Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools, which led to the introduction of Citizenship as a new statutory school subject in England in 2002:

Learning how to engage in dialogue with and respect people whose values are different from one’s own is central to the democratic process and essential to the protection and strengthening of democracy and fostering of a culture of human rights.

The Council of Europe has an outstanding record in promoting education for democratic citizenship, human rights education and intercultural dialogue, and in fostering and teaching about the importance of democratic culture. It is therefore fitting that the Council of Europe, in partnership with the European Union, through the Joint Programme “Democratic and Inclusive School Culture in Operation” (DISCO) – formerly known as the Human Rights and Democracy in Action Pilot Projects Scheme – has helped to facilitate the creation of this good practice guide on learning how to handle controversial issues in schools and other education settings.

This good practice guide is very timely. There are many issues in society and communities that children and young people in Europe are keen to discuss. Yet often they are denied opportunities in schools and other education settings because such issues are seen as too challenging to handle in classrooms and learning environments, or to manage at a whole-school or education-setting level.

This guide captures the rich learning that has emerged over past years from the promotion of the two manuals we have produced – Teaching controversial issues (TCI), a training pack for teachers, and Managing controversy (MC), a practical support tool for school leaders and senior managers – as they have been taken up and used by a range of people and institutions involved in education and training in countries and contexts across Europe. Above all, the guide shows how the notion that controversial issues are too challenging to deal with and manage in schools and other education settings can be overcome through dissemination and training, and through innovative and effective approaches to handling controversial issues being put in place in classrooms and other teaching and learning environments.

We hope that this guide, along with the two manuals and the various translations and adaptations that are emerging across Europe, will continue to strengthen the ways in which controversial issues are handled in schools and other education settings across Europe. This will benefit all children and young people as they progress through their education. It will also help to contribute to more effective and impactful EDC/HRE and to the protection and strengthening of our democratic societies at all levels.

We hope that you will learn something from the guide and, in time, consider contributing your own experiences of working with the two manuals across Europe to further iterations of the guide so that it remains topical, relevant and useful.

David Kerr

Ted Huddleston

Young Citizens (UK)

September 2020

Introduction

About this good practice guide

This good practice guide on learning how to handle controversial issues in schools and other education settings builds on our experience of piloting two manuals on controversial issues, which were funded by the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the latter. The manuals, Teaching controversial issues and Managing controversy, were designed to help schools and other education settings learn how to handle controversial issues in a range of education settings. This guide:

sets out the lessons learned by trainers, policy makers and facilitators in a range of European countries;

describes why and how the manuals have been used;

advises on how the manuals can best be applied in current and future training.

The guide consists of four sections:

Handling controversial issues using the manuals –What, where, why and how?

Engaging with the manuals – Case study experiences

Good practice guidelines – Lessons learned from working with the manuals

Accessing the manuals – List of translations.

The first section sets out where and how controversial issues arise in education, and the rationale for learning how to handle them in schools and other education settings. It also introduces the two manuals and gives brief details of how they have been used across a range of European countries and settings. The second section provides more detailed case studies from a range of expert trainers and facilitators showing why and how they have used the manuals to train teachers, trainee teachers, school leaders, managers, other education professionals, students and young people, among others, to handle controversial issues. The third section distils the lessons learned from those who have used the manuals in practice, to help others who are currently using the manuals and/or are considering working with them in the future. The final section provides brief details of where the manuals can be accessed and downloaded, including a list of the European languages into which they have been translated.

The good practice guide is aimed at anyone with an interest in the training and professional development of education practitioners in schools and other education settings – from policy makers to staff in universities and higher education, trainee teachers, school directors, leadership teams, teachers, managers of non-formal education institutions, youth workers, trainers and facilitators. It also includes information on how the manuals can be used with children and young people from pre-school to higher-education levels in formal, non-formal and informal education settings.

This good practice guide remains a work in progress. The authors continue to be interested in receiving further information on and case studies showing how the manuals have been and can be used in schools and other education settings across Europe and beyond.

Section 1Handling controversial issues using the manuals – What, where, why and how?

This section introduces and sets out the following questions.

What are controversial issues?

Where do controversial issues arise in education?

Why bother with controversial issues?

What is the rationale for learning how to handle these issues in schools and other education settings?

Is there a new urgency in handling controversial issues?

What is holding back action on controversial issues?

How were the two manuals Teaching controversial issues and Managing controversy developed and how have they been used?

How were the manuals on handling controversial issues developed?

Mutually supportive? How are the two manuals meant to be used?

How have the Council of Europe manuals been used?

What are controversial issues?

Controversial issues may be defined as “issues which arouse strong feelings and divide opinion in communities and society”.1

Controversial issues vary with time and place, and from the local to the global. Some, such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, are long-standing and deeply embedded in history. Others are more recent, for example global warming and climate change, Brexit in the United Kingdom and disputes over how schools address sex and relationships education in a changing world.

Such issues represent major disagreements or differences of opinion between groups of people, and typically involve:

disputed claims;

conflicting values and beliefs;

contested facts;

polarised views;

conflicts of interest;

strong emotions;

suspicion and lack of trust;

denigration of the other.

Where do controversial issues arise in education?

Most controversial issues in education arise in connection with:

teaching and learning – in the form of controversial subject matter, methods or resources, for example in History, Religious Education, Citizenship/Civic Education or Sex and Relationships Education;

national, regional, local or institutional policy – in the form of controversial procedures, rules and expectations, whether formal or informal, for example relating to gender and sexual orientation, religious dress or national celebrations.

Why bother with controversial issues?

What is the rationale for learning how to handle these issues in schools and other education settings?

Most curriculum subjects and areas of learning have their own distinctive types of controversy, an understanding of which is integral to a critical understanding of that subject or area of learning, for example conflicting theories in Science, doctrines in Religious Education and narrative accounts in History.

There are a number of arguments for embracing controversial issues in education, including the following.

Developing young people’s understanding and knowledge of the world: Many controversial issues are the significant issues of our time. How can young people develop a critical understanding and knowledge of the world if they do not have the opportunity to study these issues at school and/or in other education settings?

Encouraging young people’s development and democratic participation: Learning how to handle controversy is particularly important for personal and social development. It is also essential in EDC/ HRE and for active and informed participation in society and communities both now and in the future. How can children and young people learn to do this if they have no opportunity to talk about and to handle controversy? Where will they learn to express themselves and listen to others, to discuss and debate, to decide on their actions and to participate, both individually and in collaboration with others, if they are not taught how to do it during their education in and beyond the classroom?