Controversial issues are topics that divide people due to differing beliefs or values. They are important to discuss in class as students need to develop skills to think critically about complex global issues and form their own opinions. Teachers have a key role in facilitating respectful discussions on topics like sexuality, religion, bullying, and war to help students grow into informed global citizens. When handling controversial topics, teachers must ensure balance, prevent reinforcing stereotypes, and match the maturity of students.

1. CONTROVERSIES IN TEACHING By Katty Hidalgo Cerff Making Sense of It

2. What is a controversial issue? It is one which divides teachers, pupils and parents. It is one which divides my beliefs with other’s beliefs It is the proposal or the value judgement take it seriously to be discussed in public and make it a settlement of it. Settlement, an agreement or resolution of a dispute

3. They are issues that are likely to be sensitive and that have apolitical, social or personal impact and arouse feeling and/or deal withquestions of values or beliefs.

4. A controversial value implies that each side has a certain respect for the views of the other

5. Young people frequently face making decisions about a wide range of issues on which there are many different views.

6. Issues like sexuality, religion, bullying, and war can evoke complicated emotions, and lead to difficult discussions, both in and out of the classroom.

7. Young people need to develop skills that allow them to come to their own views about, and discuss, these types of hugely important issues.

8. Having a chance to engage with controversial issues in a constructive environment will help young people to develop as global citizens, and teachers have a key role to play in enabling this development.

9. Why teach controversial issues? They are in the curriculum Young people need to explore their values and develop their skills Young people want to know more about global issues Controversial issues can help develop thinking skills

10. Skills that students develop: ● Information-processing skills Enable pupils to gather, sort, classify, sequence, compare and contrast, and to make links between pieces of information.

11. ● Reasoning skills Enable pupils to justify opinions and actions, to draw inferences and make deductions, to use appropriate language to explain their views, and to use evidence to back up their decisions.

12. ● Enquiry skills Enable pupils to ask relevant question to plan what to do and how to research, to predict outcomes and anticipate responses, to test theories and problems, to test conclusions, and refine their ideas and opinions. ●

13. ● Creative thinking skills Enable pupils to generate and extend ideas, to suggest possible hypotheses, to use their imagination, and to look for alternative outcomes.

14. ● Evaluation skills Enable pupils to evaluate what they read, hear and do, to learn to judge the value of their own and others’ work or ideas, not to take all information at face value, and to have confidence in their own judgements.

15. The Inclusion of Controversial Issues The decision to include controversial issues implies a value judgement. If you are drawing an educational curriculum, you should included subjects to work that reflect the planner’s view of what is intrinsically valuable.

17. judge its bias and reliability

18. analyse it

19. synthesise it through a process of reflection on their own current views

20. draw their own conclusions

21. make informed decisions

23. You will need to find approaches that meet the need for balance and objectivity and to ensure that you avoid bias. Those which you choose will match your confidence and experience as well as the maturity and skills of your pupils.

25. Thank you!! If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there. Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind. Self observation is essential to self growth. You must first understand the motives for your own actions in oreder to undersand others.