To think it's not appropriate for a teacher to express their political views to the class they teach?

[lottieandmia]

Dd, aged 9 has come home from school saying that her teacher used their Geography lesson to lecture the children on how wonderful Thatcher was and how nearly everyone in the UK thought she was doing the right thing.

I think it is wrong for a teacher to express their political opinions to a class they teach, and particularly to misrepresent the truth about someone who divided opinion so much in the Uk, and make her out to be some kind of saviour.

This teacher has always seemed great to me in the past - what was she thinking??

OkayHazel - I would expect a politics teacher to present both sides of the argument tbh, but in any case politics is only studied from A level - at that age the students will be far more able to form their own opinion than a child in year 4.

I've taught some political philosophy, although nowhere near as much as moral philosophy, but have never divulged my personal views to students. If a student presents a typically libertarian view I would use the liberal counter-argument to get her to clarify, defend, amend and possibly abandon her position. Should she indeed abandon her position for the liberal alternative I would raise the libertarian counter argument. The whole point of teaching reasoning skills is to get students to do the reasoning for themselves.

Take another example: I teach the ethics of abortion but I have never told my students my personal views on the matter nor discussed my personal experiences of the issue. I have challenged them to articulate and defend their own views which involves presenting counter-arguments and replies. One of the most interesting aspects of teaching such complicated topics is setting out how all the different arguments relate to each other and where the specific points of contention might be.

Booboo - it's good to know that some teachers are professional in their approach!

I must add that I try not to indoctrinate my dcs even with my views. There is no way to avoid them being aware of my position on certai things I suppose but if they ask me what is right or wrong about a subjective issue I always say 'some people think this and some people think that'.

As a teacher I think it is TUR to express any kind of political view. I don't often get asked (as I teach Y2!) but my Dad who teaches secondary gets asked about things sometimes and his response is 'its not my place to discuss these things with you, I'll give you the facts and help you make up your mind' I think this is spot on

Actually I have no issue with (the idea of) my children's teachers expressing their political views. I'd prefer this not to be indoctrination and for it to be clear to the children that this is just a view and that there are other views (and airplay given to those views) but I like the idea of my children being around and potentially inspired by people who state their opinions and display some passion and belief in them.

It is incredibly difficult not to express your views to the pupils but you really shouldn't. I am often asked my views on politics/ religion/ laws etc but I make a real effort not to express my own views strongly. Being diplomatic is important and I often listen to views that I massively disagree with (death penalty, abortion, immigration etc) but I just tell the kids they have reasons for their views I and I have mine. I do sometimes challenge their views to make them think about why the believe something but I wouldn't tell them they are wrong, certainly. I often answer political questions by saying it is not something I know enough about to express an informed opinion