Abstract:
In the face of complex global social and environmental challenges, it has never been more important for education researchers to understand the development of student voice in relation to events and issues in the world around them. How young people today come to develop opinions, navigate challenging social issues and negotiate political identities are central questions to survival of democracy – plagued by conspiracy theories, political polarisation and a breakdown in public discourse. Schools are not immune to this situation, and these tensions are perhaps most clearly embodied in classroom discussions about news and current issues. Understanding how teachers and students engage in such discussions provides insights into the development of students’ political voice today. Given this situation, the paper explores the social, political and cultural complexities of discussions about news and current issues in secondary English classrooms in Australia. Through a reflexive thematic analysis of interviews and focus group data with a group of teachers working in both the public and private sectors, the paper seeks to identify and explore the challenges experienced in English classrooms. The findings point to a range of social and political barriers and anxieties teachers and students face in accessing and participating in discussions. One of the most striking of these fears relates to a lack confidence to express views due to a fear of being ‘cancelled.’ The findings point to the ways in which public discourse shapes the potentials and limits of classroom talk. The findings will be of interest to researchers interested in English literacy, democratic education and news media literacy.