Hard Questions
Here is an abstract of my book, Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues with endorsements and excerpts.
Teaching controversial issues in the classroom is now more urgent and fraught than ever as we struggle to deal with so many crises across the world. Prior research shows that teaching controversy is crucial for the development of democratic civic agents. But educators often avoid it. How then can we prepare and support teachers to take up this essential but difficult work? Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues, based on a cross-national qualitative study, examines four teacher educators’ approaches to preparing preservice teachers for teaching controversial issues in history, citizenship, and social studies. It takes readers inside their methods courses at universities in three politically divided societies – Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. The book traces preservice teachers’ learning from coursework to their student teaching placements and, in a few cases, first year of in-service teaching, where they attempt to put what they have learned into practice. It analyzes the factors that supported or constrained their efforts to teach controversy. The book’s cross-national perspective is compelling for a broad and diverse audience. It raises critical questions about teaching controversial issues and provides insights and recommendations to educators, researchers, and policymakers.
- Purchase book online at: Rowman & Littlefield website
- Purchase via phone to receive a 30% discount. Make sure to use the code RLFANDF30. In the U.S. phone: 1-800-462-6420
Vignettes
This is a collection of four illustrative vignettes from Hard Questions. Two offer rich descriptions of activities I observed in the history and citizenship methods courses I studied in Northern Ireland. The other two are based on interviews with preservice teachers from Northern Ireland and narrate their efforts to teach controversial issues in history and citizenship. These vignettes serve as cases to generate discussion on teaching controversial issues, preparing preservice teachers for this work, and supporting their initial attempts in classrooms.
Book Endorsements
Here is a selection of endorsements from scholars in the field.
In a world where respectful political debate often seems overshadowed by polarising arguments in which opponents simply shout over one another, this book addresses the fundamental issue of how we can deal with hard questions that divide us. Schools provide a potentially important space to induct young citizens into deliberative democratic conversations, where differences can be aired, acknowledged and worked through. Pace addresses not just what is required of teachers to manage this process successfully, but how teachers can be prepared for such an onerous task. In her investigation of these processes, Pace reveals the ways in which pedagogic knowledge, political judgement and democratic values infuse the work of teacher educators and explores the challenges faced by new teachers as they try to develop their own expertise to teach about controversial issues. This account provides a fascinating insight into a crucial area of teacher education and should be required reading for policy-makers and programme leaders as well as teacher educators and new teachers.
This is a fascinating account of how four accomplished teacher educators and their pre-service teachers address similar challenges of controversial issues teaching differently in differing cultural and national contexts. This is a “must read” for teacher educators and teachers of social studies, history/humanities, and civic education, as well as comparative education scholars. Helpfully, Pace draws on insights from her in-depth research to offer thoughtful suggestions for educators to adapt to their particular contexts.
Pace's accomplished, discerning book gives teacher educators evidence-based insights for preparing new teachers to focus their instruction on controversial public issues.
In this thoughtful and critical study, Judith Lee Pace draws on the practice of four experienced teacher educators with significant expertise in teaching controversial issues, including the experiences of their student teachers, to build a robust framework for contained risk taking from the ground up. Utterly practical in its utility, yet firmly rooted in theory and scholarship, this is the book I wish I had read as a novice teacher educator.
With democracy in decline across the globe, it feels like a deeper understanding of how to effectively explore controversial issues has never been more important. This timely book is essential reading for any educator who wants to critically engage with the craft of bringing controversy into the classroom. With a diverse range of contexts explored and analyzed, this book provides the reader with a firm foundation to build effective practice and resilient learning communities.
Design work provided by Studio Mitchell