Developing a New Scale for Assessing Discussion Practices in the Teaching of Political Controversial Issues

Numerous studies have pointed to the benefits of discussing controversial political issues (CPI) with students in a school setting. Because teachers play a significant role in facilitating discussions on CPI, including determining how they are conducted and influencing their outcomes, it is essential to measure the discussion practices teachers employ when addressing CPI. However, existing tools inadequately measure teachers’ discussion practices in teaching CPI. Thus, our aim was to develop and validate a scale for this purpose. An exploratory factor analysis on a pilot sample of Israeli school teachers ( N = 113) identified five factors, and a confirmatory factor analysis on a larger sample ( N = 205) demonstrated an adequate fit for this five-factor structure. Methodological benefits of measuring specific discussion practices in teaching CPI and the educational implications for teacher training are discussed.