ABSTRACT

Based on a cross-national study conducted in Northern Ireland, England, and the United States, this article expands current literature by examining 4 teacher educators’ efforts to prepare preservice teachers to teach controversial issues. Teaching controversial issues, strongly advocated for decades, is both urgent and risky, especially in divided societies. The risks include emotional reactions that interfere with learning, inflammatory discourse threatening to students, and criticism from community members or school administrators. Using vignettes from class sessions and interview data, this article highlights strategies teacher educators taught their students to deal with these risks, as well as the approaches they used to teach them. Overall, the teacher educators prepared preservice teachers for contained risk-taking when teaching controversial issues, and they enacted this stance in their own practice. The findings raise important questions, such as what balance should be struck between an open classroom climate and safe space in politically turbulent times and divided societies.

摘要

基于在北爱尔兰，英格兰和美国进行的一项跨国研究，本文通过考察4位教师教育者为准备有争议的教师而准备职前教师的工作，来扩展当前的文献。教学有争议的问题，几十年来一直被提倡，既紧急又冒险，特别是在分裂的社会中。风险包括干扰学习的情绪反应，威胁学生的发炎性话语以及社区成员或学校管理员的批评。本文使用来自课堂会议的小插曲和访谈数据，重点介绍了教师教育者教给学生的应对这些风险的策略，以及他们用来教给他们的方法。总体而言，教师教育者为职前教师做好了承担风险的准备在教授有争议的问题时，他们在自己的实践中采取了这种立场。这些发现提出了重要的问题，例如在政治动荡的时代和分裂的社会中，应该在开放的教室环境和安全的空间之间取得平衡。