Dalarna University's logo and link to the university's website

Research on controversial issues in education is extensive. Generally, the teacher has been examined, or advised, based on preconceived ideas of how the teaching should preferably be designed. Although those recommendations have varied, they have usually been characterized by instruction and method. However, this article does not address such predetermined models of action. As an alternative, the starting point is based on the perspective of the teaching professional and on data generated from teacher interviews. The aim of the article is to examine how the overall function of education emerges when teachers speak of their own experiences of teaching about controversial issues in geography in secondary school. The findings illustrate how the teachers, based on a number of circumstances, make use of four different approaches: deflecting, enlightening, challenging, and correcting. Hence, from the perspective of the teaching profession, work on controversial issues seems less understandable in terms of a single approach. Instead, each situation seems to require its own situated and subject-related considerations and professional reflections.