Drawing the Boundaries of Controversy: Justifying the Inclusion and Exclusion of Climate Change Perspectives in Geography Teacher Education
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Teaching controversial issues is a central yet challenging task in geography education, especially regarding climate change, where scientific consensus on causation coexists with contested responses to addressing climate change. Although controversy is widely regarded as essential for fostering judgment and democratic engagement, empirical research on how teacher educators, as models of professional judgment, justify decisions about the inclusion or exclusion of perspectives in classroom discussions as a relevant part of planning the teaching of controversial issues remains limited. This study investigates how such decisions are justified and to what extent participants’ justifications can be analytically related to established theoretical criteria for controversy. Group discussions with teacher educators, in which participants engaged with materials designed to prompt discussion about the inclusion and exclusion of perspectives on addressing climate change, were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings reveal that participants' justifications are pluralistic and context-dependent, drawing on multiple considerations that can be analytically related to different theoretical criteria. By analysing these patterns, the study offers empirical insight into how the boundaries of controversy are drawn in practice and discusses implications for teacher education and classroom practice. It thus advances the “controversy over controversies” debate by demonstrating how theoretical criteria are reflected in situated justificatory practices through which inclusion and exclusion decisions are negotiated in context. The study indicates that geography education, particularly in times of socio-spatial transformation and uncertainty, can benefit from approaches that support reflective, criteria-aware professional judgment rather than prescriptive decision rules when addressing controversial issues.
Source: European Journal of Geography
Institution: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Language: English
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7168174127