Topical Talk

How to teach polarising issues

Nervous about addressing controversial or polarising topics? Our free lessons facilitate safe, open-minded discussions for students aged 10-16.

How does Topical Talk help?

Topical Talk lessons encourage thoughtful, open-minded discussions and active listening. Sensitive and controversial issues are presented safely; with unbiased, factual information that helps students navigate topics that are often surrounded by misinformation.

Our lessons are created by experienced teachers with support from The Economist's senior editors and fact-checkers. That means you can trust our resources to give an accurate and balanced picture for your students to unpick.

Hear from Katie, our Head of Content, on how we ensure our lessons are balanced and capture the nuance of complex issues.

Learn more

Each lesson contains:

  • Ready-to-use teacher instructions and printable, engaging resources
  • An accessible, student-friendly PowerPoint
  • Keywords and definitions to break down new or challenging vocabulary

  • What if I don't feel confident to teach these kinds of lessons?

    We know that it might be daunting to have conversations in your classroom about polarising issues. We've created a guide that gives practical tips on how to handle them with confidence, including:

    • Ensuring all important perspectives are fairly represented, though some arguments might need more exploration, more time, or more challenge
    • Championing facts and challenging misinformation
    • Considering informing parents
    • Being comfortable without an answer for everything

    Read the guide here

Lessons on polarising issues

Resources