Teachers need more guidance and support to enable students to deliberate and discuss such issues, says Alistair Ross, while Frank Edwards writes that the downgrading of history in the curriculum has not helped
Dame Sara Khan is right (Schools in England accused of closing down debate on Israel-Gaza conflict, 30 March). Teachers are reluctant to engage in discussions about the Israel-Gaza conflict with their students, but young people do need opportunities to deliberate and discuss such issues. This is not to debate them in a formal sense, with the implication that the majority view should prevail. Deliberative discussions allow participants to listen and respond to each other’s views, and to recognise the inevitable tensions and difficulties in balancing opposing opinions.
Teachers taking on the role of a moderator can encourage students to listen to each other’s views – rather than to the teacher – using open-ended questions (how and why, rather than who, what, when), and declining to advance their own views, offering only brief factual information when asked.
