Fridays for Future: Dealing with controversial issues in schools

What does a school strike mean for teachers and school leaders, and what tensions arise when they must respond to such protests? To address this question, we first give an overview of theoretical insights and empirical findings. Based on a survey of Fridays for Future participants, we then examine how students perceived teachers’ and school leaders’ reactions to the strikes, and discuss the findings in the context of school development.

The Fridays for Future (FfF) school strikes represent a protest movement advocating for a sustainable future while simultaneously challenging the current institutional framework of schools. The characterization of FfF as school strike needs a response from teachers and school leaders, an aspect that has received limited scholarly attention. The movement is compelling both teachers and school leaders to adopt a stance on the strike and to take a position on controversial issues. But there is a lack of professionalization among educators regarding their approach to addressing controversies in the context of climate policies. At the same time, teachers and school leaders must directly respond to the absence of students. This article aims to explore the manner in which controversial topics can be addressed in schools, with a particular focus on the example of FfF. We outline challenges that teachers and school leaders face in relation to FfF and present theoretical and empirical insights into how to deal with controversial issues. Moreover, we present initial findings pertaining to the students’ perceptions of the teachers’ and school leaders’ responses to FfF.