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  • 35 - Teacher Neutrality, Pedagogical Impartiality, and Democratic Education

  • from Part Four - Challenges
  • Edited by Julian Culp, The American University of Paris, France, Johannes Drerup, Universität Dortmund, Douglas Yacek, Universität Dortmund
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Democratic Education
    Published online:
    20 April 2023
    Print publication:
    27 April 2023, pp 607-627

  • Summary

    When teachers address controversial issues with their students in class, parents, society, and the teaching profession often expect them to adopt a neutral or impartial pedagogical stance. However, scholars have expressed doubts about whether this duty of impartiality is realistic and questioned whether it is educationally desirable. This chapter defends the duty of impartiality by arguing that the key reservations voiced against it in the academic literature are based on different misconceptions about impartial teaching and teacher neutrality: about the meaning of “controversial issue,” about the educational value of being flexible about neutrality in teaching situations, and about what constitutes a reasonable standard of impartiality. Drawing on the legal concept of evenhandedness, the chapter concludes by putting forward an alternative standard of teacher impartiality that walks the line between the inevitably value-laden nature of teaching and the expectation that teachers exercise their authority in a reasonable and responsible way.