This research was made as part of the project ‘Learning to Disagree’ which aims at strengthening students social and civic competences through discussion, debate and dialogue in history and civic education. Against the backdrop of students’ exposure to extremist ideologies, populism and ‘alternative’ facts on the internet it focuses on improving teachers’ capacities to conduct discussions about controversial and sensitive issues in their classrooms. This needs assessment was designed to identify what educators need today in order to help their students to acquire social and civic competences through dialogue, debate and discussion on contested issues.

To translate this general idea into more concrete aims, this research wanted to find out
 what teachers perceive as being sensitive and controversial issues,
 how often and with reference to which kinds of formats do they practice dialogue, discussion and debate,
 how they assess their students in this context,
 what challenges do they face,
 which teaching approaches do they rely on in order to deal with these challenges.

This research combines qualitative and quantitative research methods to investigate the different controversial topics and their implications for the project.
Overall, the research identifies that while there is no one right way to help students to acquire social and civic competences through dialogue, debate and discussion on contested issues, some strategies can be helpful. It is important to highlight that creating an atmosphere where fairness prevails will help students feel encouraged to speak their mind and a discussion culture can develop. However, this kind of rational set-up might not always work. If emotional discussions spring up spontaneously, students express extremist opinions or shut themselves away, teachers have to take the emotional level more than usual into account. Therefore, teachers should be better enabled to deal with controversy by reflecting and, if necessary, broadening their repertoire of strategies. While these challenges are not completely new for educators, they have gained a new quality in a world where established facts are publicly contested, conspiracy theories are promoted and nationalist resentments are refueled by populists.

You can read the whole research here.

  • The use of popular games to develop basic citizenship competences
  • Building Technological Bridges with History: the use of digital learning platforms to promote tailored History Education
  • Feeling the Museum: putting oneself in the shoes of students with special needs to understand how to provide the best didactic experience possible
  • Students as Mediators of Conflicts
  • Find out what New Students Bring to the Classroom

    As a response to an increase in new students in the Swedish educational system, the Swedish Board of Education tasked a group of schools and universities to find a way to assess what newly arrived students know in order to provide the best possible education for each student, as well as focusing on their strengths rather than their weaknesses. This resulted in the formation of materials for conducting discourse around history for the purpose of assessing the historical competencies of newly arrived students. This is done in the form of a 70-minute conversation between a teacher and a student. The assessment is meant to provide valuable insight into what the students are already familiar with, so that teachers can take this into account when creating lesson plans.