Media Release

Teachers warn: respectful debate in Australian classrooms on the decline

9 June 2026

A new poll of Australian teachers finds that respectful debate on contemporary or controversial issues is becoming harder to implement in classrooms, raising concerns about future democratic engagement and social cohesion.

The poll, conducted by the Rule of Law Education Centre, highlights the impact of declining social cohesion in the community on teachers’ capacity to facilitate and model respectful debate in the classroom.

“Effective civics and citizenship education relies on an open classroom climate. This cannot rest on teachers alone,” said CEO Sally Layson.

“Teachers remain strongly committed to their role in developing students’ democratic skills and understanding, but face significant barriers in delivering high quality, relevant civics education. These include concerns about challenging reactions from parents or students and a crowded curriculum.

“At a time of growing concern about declining social cohesion and increased polarisation, schools play a crucial role in strengthening democratic understanding and trust in our community.

“Research consistently shows that civics and citizenship education is most effective when it is meaningful, relevant and connected to students’ everyday lives.

“Students develop stronger civic knowledge, greater interpersonal and institutional trust, and a deeper sense of their role in a democracy when learning takes place in open classroom environments.

“In such classrooms, diverse views are welcomed, respectful discussion of contemporary issues is encouraged, and young people can see the relevance and integrity of democratic institutions and processes, and trust that they will be treated equally and fairly by them.

“The findings in our poll point to an urgent need to strengthen civics education policy settings.

“The Rule of Law Education Centre is calling on all governments to prioritise high quality professional development to strengthen teachers’ skills and confidence to address challenging topics in the classroom, and to provide professional guidelines and pedagogical strategies for teachers that help them facilitate discussions on controversial topics to limit personal bias.

“Classrooms must be an environment that is a safe space, where students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to disagree respectfully, explore and debate controversial ideas, and learn how democratic disagreement works in practice,” Ms Layson said.

Key findings

• Limited space in the curriculum: almost half (49%) of respondents to the survey rated this as the most significant factor that discouraged them from facilitating debate-based discussions on contemporary or controversial issues.

• Almost 70% of respondents ranked fear of possible repercussions from either parents or students as reasons for not engaging with debated on contemporary or controversial issues in the classroom.

• Confidence not translating to practice: while 88% feel comfortable facilitating discussions, only just over half do so two or more times per week; around 15% do so less than once a fortnight.

The Rule of Law Education Centre is calling for:

• Explicit curriculum outcomes and content that prioitises debate-based environments

• Consistent high quality professional development for teachers, particularly during initial teacher education

• Policy support recognising the central role of debate-based learning in democracy

Media contact: Sally Layson Sally@ruleoflaw.org.au

About the Rule of Law Education Centre

The Rule of Law Education Centre exists to strengthen Australia’s civic culture through education. We focus on helping young Australians understand the rule of law, the structure of government, and the principles that protect democratic freedom.

We provide teachers and students with accessible, evidence based, curriculum aligned learning that makes complex legal concepts clear and relevant. Our programs support civics and citizenship education across Australia.