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Understanding controversial issues is important for students to develop as future democratically participating citizens. However, addressing them can be challenging for teachers and there is a clear need for increased knowledge about how to deal with them in teaching. This article examines the strategies applied by civics teachers when teaching Swedish pupils of grades 7–9. We focus particularly on civics teachers as civics is an important subject in Swedish schools, in which there is a strong tradition of dealing with current issues and social problems. We analyse their approaches to four common strategies for teaching controversial issues identified from previous research (avoidance, neutrality, norm mediation and provocation) using data obtained from a survey of 73 civics teachers, six interviews and two observational case studies. The findings are discussed in terms of three educational functions formulated by Biesta: qualification, socialisation and subjectification. They indicate that teachers adopt varying strategies that seem most appropriate according to their professional judgement in specific situations, and the educational functions are usually closely intertwined in practical teaching.

Purpose: This study seeks to gain an understanding of the complexities involved in real-life classroom teaching. The aim is to trace values and tensions displayed in what the teachers regard as successful and unsuccessful.

Design/methodology/approach: Teachers were interviewed to explore their perceptions of success and failures in their teaching about controversial issues. Data was analysed thematically and cross-analysed to find underlying didactic values and tensions.

Findings: Successful and unsuccessful are mainly related to the students’ learning, teachers’ efforts, and reactions of parents, not to specific issues. Values included concern for students’ well-being and a desire for less polarisation. Tensions concerned students’ level of commitment and how to deal with students’ own opinions. Successful teaching is not only about achieving curriculum goals but also must be understood in relation to teachers’ task perceptions.

Practical implications: Results of the study can provide teachers with a ground for didactical reflection.

Swedish vocational education and training programmes have become increasingly aligned with labour market demands and employability, with consequent risks of marginalisation of citizenship education and formation. Four subjects that have traditionally played important roles in this, history, religious education, science, and social studies, are now only taught in short courses that are minor elements of the programmes. To obtain insights into the teaching and learning conditions in these key subjects for citizenship formation in Swedish VET programmes, school leaders and teachers were interviewed. The analysis, informed by frame factory theory and Biesta’s conceptualisations of three functions of education, revealed clear differences in the school leaders’ and teachers’ views of the conditions. School leaders articulated problems related to internal frame factors, such as the teachers’ engagement and students’ attitudes to the subjects, while teachers referred to external frame factors, such as the organisation of teaching. However, when talking about the VET students and their learning, both school leaders and teachers expressed notions of the students as in need of qualification and socialisation, thereby focusing on preparation of the students for their future professional and civic roles, with little room for substantial subjectification.

Kommentarartikel til Torben Spanget Christensen, Samfundsfag i Danmark

Mot bakgrund av Torben Spanget Christensens artikel om utvecklingen av skolämnet samfundsfag i Danmark har vi av Nordidacticas redaktion ombetts att skriva några sidor om utvecklingen i Sverige av motsvarande skolämne, samhällskunskap. Vi börjar med en översiktlig genomgång av ämnets utveckling sedan inrättandet. Därefter kommer vi att med hjälp av några illustrerande exempel visa hur läroböcker för samhällsundervisning har förändrats över tid och avsluta med några jämförande reflektioner.