Between Individual Political Attitudes and Anticipated Claims to Neutrality

Future Teachers and Their Approach to Politics

Abstract

Within the socio-political debate, the question of political neutrality of teachers and prospective teachers is virulent. The article draws on a descriptive reanalysis of empirical data from the National Education Panel to argue that neutrality in the school context is neither a solution nor a real option. Teachers do not act and think without presuppositions, but against the background of their own cultural habitus. Through their actions, their assessments, their contextualisations and evaluations, they pass on certain political contents and patterns of interpretation, whether intentionally or unintentionally. In doing so, they open up a certain interpretation of the world to their students. This article focuses on the tension between teachers’ anticipated ideas of neutrality and their nevertheless omnipresent political convictions. In the light of professional approaches, this tension is discussed and facets of a reflexive approach to one’s own positionality in the context of diversity of perspectives are outlined. Finally, it is discussed what contribution university teacher education can make in order to foster the development of a professional approach to one’s own political convictions.