Teachers refusing to discuss ‘controversial’ Brexit with pupils

An academic has claimed that Scottish teachers are avoiding discussing Brexit because it is “too controversial” and one school has even dropped Europe as a topic this year.The claims were made by Daniela Sime, a reader in social policy at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, who was quickly backed by education experts at other Scottish universities.Dr Sime said that she had lost count of the number of pupils who had told her teachers were saying they did not want to discuss Brexit as it was “too controversial”.She made the claim on the social media platform Twitter, prompting the head of the University of Edinburgh’s school of education, Professor Rowena Arshad, to say: “If teachers are avoiding opening spaces to discuss and debate current and frankly life-changing issues for young people - we need to question what education is for!” The University of Stirling’s Professor Mark Priestley added: “Too many topics are avoided on the grounds that they are political.” He called for young people to be allowed to “engage with complex and controversial issues”.