Balancing neutrality in civic education: Czech teachers’ situational responses to controversial and sensitive issues

Abstract This study examines how Czech civic education teachers navigate neutrality in relation to controversial and sensitive (CaS) topics, understood as issues that provoke disagreement and emotional responses and vary across contexts and classrooms. Drawing on qualitative interviews and a focus group, the study explores teachers’ reasoning and pedagogical responses in secondary technical and vocational schools located in two regions with the country’s lowest educational outcomes. These schools represent contexts of double disadvantage shaped by cumulative regional and institutional constraints. Using a grounded theory approach, this research investigates the teachers’ strategies to balance institutional expectations, societal pressures, and student engagement in civic education. The findings reveal that teachers adopt four distinct approaches – strategic avoidance, structured neutrality, value-based advocacy, and transparent facilitation – each shaped by external constraints and personal pedagogical beliefs. Rather than representing fixed pedagogical orientations, these approaches reflect teachers’ situational responses to perceived risks and contextual constraints. By conceptualising established typologies as flexible repertoires rather than fixed teacher positions, the study refines and extends previous frameworks and contributes to a more context-sensitive understanding of neutrality and decision-making in civic education.