Political pressure is prompting more than a third of social studies teachers to axe some topics from their lessons, according to a new survey.
The poll, from the education nonprofit and advocacy group iCivics, asked a nationally representative group of nearly 2,200 K-12 educators from the organization’s user base about their instructional choices, perspectives on the field, and concerns for the future.
The findings shed light on teachers’ anxieties.
Teachers overwhelmingly said instruction should not have a partisan bent. But they feel that they’re under scrutiny anyway: 35% say they have changed or removed lessons they usually teach, “because of the climate in their school or community.” More than half said teaching basic civics concepts now feels difficult, and almost 6 in 10 said they worried about potential backlash for teaching something the “wrong way.” Twenty percent said they had experienced backlash.
“It’s not an easy time to be teaching civics,” said Emma Humphries, the chief education officer at iCivics. “That’s not some massive revelation. We’ve known that for some time.”
The past decade brought contentious presidential elections, two impeachments, nationwide protest movements against police violence and anti-Black racism, and the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021—events that many social studies teachers have discussed with their students in real time in the classroom.
Now, under President Donald Trump’s second term, they’re figuring out how to navigate debates about whether the president is pushing past the limits of executive authority and constitutional interpretation.
All the while, teachers in 20 states have been working under policies that restrict how they discuss race, sex, or other topics that might be deemed “divisive concepts” in the classroom.
The poll results reflect a “general sense of uncertainty,” said Humphries. “It’s been going on for so long, the cumulative effect of that stress is starting to come out.”
‘Everything seems fraught’
The iCivics survey, released at the start of this year’s Civic Learning Week National Forum in Philadelphia, isn’t the first national look at how teachers are dealing with the current political moment—and other data have shown similar patterns.
But the poll shows the persistence of these fears, nearly five years on from the beginning of the legislative push to pass divisive concepts laws and the beginnings of the new “parents’ rights” movement.
The majority of teachers in the iCivics poll don’t believe that their instruction should have a partisan bent. Eighty-nine percent say that civics teaching should “foster respect for a pluralistic society with diverse viewpoints,” and only 12% say that their teaching should be “guided by their own affiliation.”
Even so, said Humphries, teachers are worried that something they say might be taken the wrong way. “Everything seems fraught,” she said, from explaining Constitutional principles to discussing the history of slavery.
Depending on geographic location, some teachers feel more pressure than others. Almost half of the teachers in states where legislatures have attempted to restrict classroom discussions say the political climate affects their instruction, compared with 32% in those in states without major legislative pushes.
The fact that more than half of teachers in the poll report worrying about potential backlash doesn’t surprise Kevin Podeweltz, the vice president of the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies, and a 4th grade teacher in the state.
Legislators in Wisconsin passed a divisive concepts bill in 2021, but it was vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, in early 2022. Still, there are many communities in the state where teachers face complaints about social studies lessons from parents and the public, Podeweltz said.
“The perception is real for some teachers in Wisconsin,” he said.
Fears about lessons ending up on social media heighten teachers’ inclination to caution, Podeweltz added. “Things go viral so fast. You don’t want it to be you that becomes the meme of, ‘This person said this.’”
Not all teachers say they feel supported by their schools
Podeweltz recommends that teachers build up their content knowledge in topics that they worry may be seen as controversial.
“As a 4th grade teacher, I teach a lot about Wisconsin First Nations and treaty removal rights,” he said. “I could see someone who hasn’t really studied that could be hesitant to talk about that when they’re not really sure what to say.”
School district and state boards also have a responsibility, Humphries said, to make it clear they support educators’ professional judgement.
That sentiment is far from universal, at least according to teachers. Only 65% of the teachers in the iCivics survey said they felt supported by their school leadership.
