**Tl;dr: Political opinions should not be censored by teachers as long as they do not force the opinion on the pupils. Children will not be protected from these opinions in the real world, so it is better to prepare them in a monitored environment.** [In 2018, the DfE said teachers should refrain from giving their political opinion while teaching.](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/sep/05/education-department-teachers-express-political-views-headteachers-unions) However, while I do agree that teachers should never force their opinion on students, some political influence besides their parents may benefit them. From a young age I was only ever influenced by the right-wing opinions of grandparents, parents, etc. If I had never gone to school, it would have been very likely that I would have merely accepted these opinions as the only valid argument. Once a child gets to school, they are faced with an array of opinions from educated individuals on important topics which the media and family members may not demonstrate. Teachers being able to demonstrate their opinion can also make the learning experience feel more personal, having real examples from teachers with lots of different perspectives aside from those the child may have forced on them at home. By censoring these opinions, children are going to be very shocked going out into the real world, in higher education, work, etc, where people do not censor their opinions. It is better to introduce children to the range of perspectives in a nuanced manner without forcing it on them before going out into the real world and having no choice but to have these opinions thrown in their face every time they open a newspaper or go on social media.

**TL;DR It is important for children to hear different political viewpoints, however their teachers may not expose them to this as they come from the same political / geographical landscapes**. I like the idea that if teachers express their political opinions, children could be exposed to more political beliefs and opinions. This is obviously valuable, children must be educated more about politics outside of their household viewpoints. However, in reality, I question if teachers expressing their opinions would actually mean that the children are exposed to different political opinions. Political opinions are largely shaped by the culture and societies that people live in. The pupils and their teachers probably live in the same areas. This means that there is a high probability that the teachers would also have similar political views to the children's families. For example, Liverpool in the UK is a stronghold Labour city and so the majority who live there probably have left-wing views. On the flip side, Bournemouth is a very Conservative city, so the majority there will have right-wing views. A child being raised / educated in California, where it is quite liberal, has more chance of being exposed to viewpoints that are pro-abortion. Whereas, a child being raised / educated in Alabama, which is usually conservative and has strong Christian beliefs, will probably impose pro-life views onto the child. So, I am unsure if teachers expressing their political views would expose children to differing viewpoints, as the teachers live in the same geographical / political landscape as the children's families, which means there is a good chance that they all share the same political stances. Perhaps, what would be more effective is more time within education for children to be taught about politics. To hear both sides of a debate, for example with the abortion topic.

**TL;DR: It is good for students to be exposed to a variety of political opinions, but teachers should not express one of these opinions as their own. The relationship between teacher and student is that of an authority figure and a learner, which makes a teacher's opinion carry more weight than most.** If discussing politics or in a government class, it would be beneficial for teachers to offer each political perspective, but sharing personal political beliefs makes it harder to distinguish what is opinion and what is true (since teachers always have the right answer in every other area of teaching). Especially for younger kids - if you're learning about the fact of the water cycle and then your teacher starts talking about the pro-life argument, it'd be easy to mistake opinion for fact. It also has the potential to spread misinformation (which is counter to the school's purpose), since, frankly, teachers are humans influenced by modern media. Nowadays, kids can easily be exposed to different viewpoints through the internet and social media, and it is increasingly rare in the real world for people to present information in a calm, nonpartisan, even factual way. I think it's important to maintain at least one voice in kids' lives that just gives them the facts, maybe explains what different people believe about those facts, and lets them decide for themselves, without muddying it with their authority's sway.

**TL;DR - Freedom of expression is always valid for an educator but it may become problematic if it undermines or discredits a school subject (Ex. Climate Change, Evolution).** It may be difficult to say if it’s okay to share your political opinion in every situation as an educator. As a general rule, everyone has the freedom to express their political views, but some circumstances may affect the quality of education given to students. This example is out of personal testimony, so I’m not sure how rare this case was. So in high school I had a science teacher who didn’t believe in evolution and labelled the topic as “false science”. Eventually she was forced by her higher ups to teach evolution to the class and she did, but not before making her political comments against the school district and on how church and state are both equally responsible for the truth. In this case, because of an educators religious/political views, the class was unable to learn about a evolution without its political context. Although a teacher was entitled to her political/religious beliefs, presenting them in this fashion undermines the importance of scientific inquiry.

**TL;DR: The standard that teachers do not give their political opinions in the classroom ultimately makes for a more comfortable and open learning environment, which is an important atmosphere to create for students beginning to encounter and discuss different political opinions for the first time.** This is a tricky one, however ultimately, I don’t think it’s necessary for teachers to explicitly reveal their own political opinions to their students to discuss politics properly, and I think the policy of not doing so is necessary to create an ethos of equality and respect for the varied opinions expressed by students in the class (barring hate speech). While teachers are obviously more than capable of expressing their own opinions and also fairly presenting alternative opinions that they disagree with, choosing not to do so creates space for students to think and express their thoughts with less concern about how their opinion compares to their teacher’s. By freely sharing their own opinions, teachers could also risk creating an unnecessarily inflammatory, potentially hostile environment for pupils. Nuanced and complicated political discussions (e.g., the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to take just one example) may have particularly personal resonance for some pupils and a teacher sharing their opinion, whatever the intention, could easily be interpreted as an attempt to persuade the class one way or another, perhaps even contributing to the marginalization of or discrimination against particular groups. These issues really could be avoided so that sensitive, complicated topics, which should be included in the curriculum, can be ‘taught’ as well as they can be. This is not to say that this standard would actually make the classroom a perfectly neutral place. Curriculums are definitely not unbiased, and teachers are likely to translate some of their own biases anyway, even when they do not divulge their personal views. Some might even say that by sharing their opinions (as long as they are presented as opinions), teachers help students see that they are taught through particular lenses. Admittedly this is a potential danger of making the classroom seem ‘neutral’. Ideally, pupils would also be taught that their curriculum is a limited one which is by no means objective or free of bias, although I don’t think that this kind of teaching exists before undergraduate level education at the moment. Ultimately, it’s a toss-up between creating a more comfortable space or the most honest, authentic learning environment possible. This is a difficult conundrum, but I think overall creating a comfortable space is more important in a pre-university environment as students are just beginning to think critically and come into contact with different political opinions for the first time. Saying that teachers should refrain from explicitly giving political opinions is not to say that teachers should be frightened of talking in-depth about politics for fear of revealing their views. The DfE’s issuing of a warning against teachers expressing political opinions in 2018 was clearly an attempt to stop them from talking about school funding cuts. The government asking teachers to stop talking about current events is both tragic and sinister and teachers certainly shouldn’t be paralysed by fear of potentially revealing their leanings or translating biases, as we all have them. In my opinion, students are often able to discern pieces of their teachers' political leanings anyway. However, because of the reality of bias in education, some kind of official attempt to remain as neutral as possible by teachers in the classroom is definitely worth something and contributes to a positive ethos in the classroom.

it shouldn't be a teachers role to censor their own political opinion in the classroom. They should have the freedom to express their views onto their students, so as long as they link it to the topic at hand, and allow for ambiguity. Children hearing a biased argument is important, as It is an integral part of life, in the workplace, high education and in the general conversation, where bias is essential to having an argument or debate worth having. And for those on the right scared about a left-wing bias, let children learn WHY there is a left-wing bias. Explain to them the public-sector, and the impact of left-right-wing policies on the education system. Inevitably, children will not follow their teachers opinions, unless they have literally no connection to other sources of political thinking, which is an assumption that would be naive and overly-pessimistic to make. Let children feel, and enjoy, the passion that comes with a biased argument, to will build character, and keep soul in the education system.