Highlights the value of controversy by using a debate format to present both sides of numerous controversial issues in social policy. Consists of 21 debates, written especially for this volume by experts in the field. The debate topics were selected to cover a wide range of professional interests in the field of social policy and are divided into three clusters: general issues, specific issues in the delivery of human services, and key issues related to poverty, deprivation, and social policy. Designed as a supplemental text for graduate and undergraduate courses in social work policy, or for social work practicum/seminars.

Issues for Debate in Social Policy is a timely supplement for courses in Social Policy. Each article gives substantial background and analysis of a particular issue as well as useful pedagogical features to inspire critical thinking and to help students grasp and review key material. Topics include: * Women′s Rights * Middle Class Squeeze * Vanishing Jobs * Race and Politics * Domestic Poverty * Welfare Reform * Hunger in America * Social Security Reform * Child Welfare Reform * Wounded Veterans * Universal Coverage * Ending Homelessness * Mortgage Crisis * Caring for the Elderly * Aging Baby Boomers * Gender Pay Gap * The Obama Presidency.

A key long-term challenge faced by the United States and other leading world economies is breaking the link between economic growth and oil consumption. The energy price shocks of 1973 and 1979 showed the fragility of these dependent relationships and their impact on world politics. Alfred Marcus ably examines U.S. energy policymaking and reveals both the shortcomings and failures--as well as the surprising successes--of past energy-policy efforts. Following a review of events that transpired in the Persian Gulf after August, 1990, Marcus examines worldwide trends in energy production/consumption since the first energy-supply crisis of 1973. Ensuing chapters discuss the economics and politics of energy policy, the role(s) of markets and governments, and parts played by supplier and user nations from countries to cartels. Unique to this text is Marcus′s review of U.S. policies and reactions to energy shortages as compared with the experiences of other major consuming nations (Japan, France, and Great Britain). At a time when energy policy is among the most important issues in world politics, Controversial Issues in Energy Policy skillfully outlines new and enduring issues of energy policy for academics and students in public policy, political science, public administration, and economics, as well as policy makers. "Marcus provides a valuable insight into the dynamics of policy and politics around a vitally important resource." --Political Studies Association

Teaching is a lifelong challenge, but the first few years in the classroom are typically a teacher's hardest. This expanded collection of writings and reflections offers practical guidance on how to navigate the school system, form rewarding relationships with colleagues, and connect in meaningful ways with students and families from all cultures and backgrounds.

This volume discusses what lessons have been learnt from past efforts to eliminate poverty in the United States, such as the 1935 Social Security Act and the 1964 War on Poverty, and what steps should be taken in the future. Chelf has radical suggestions for the future elimination of poverty. He advocates that it is necessary to develop a social and political agenda recognizing the need to invest and re-invest in human resources.

The field of elementary social studies is a specific space that has historically been granted unequal value in the larger arena of social studies education and research. This reader stands out as a collection of approaches aimed specifically at teaching controversial issues in elementary social studies. This reader challenges social studies education (i.e., classrooms, teacher education programs, and research) to engage controversial issues--those topics that are politically, religiously, or are otherwise ideologically charged and make people, especially teachers, uncomfortable--in profound ways at the elementary level. This reader, meant for elementary educators, preservice teachers, and social studies teacher educators, offers an innovative vision from a new generation of social studies teacher educators and researchers fighting against the forces of neoliberalism and the marginalization of our field. The reader is organized into three sections: 1) pushing the boundaries of how the field talks about elementary social studies, 2) elementary social studies teacher education, and 3) elementary social studies teaching and learning. Individual chapters either A) conceptually unpack a specific controversial issue (e.g. Islamophobia, Indian Boarding Schools, LGBT issues in schools) and how that issue should be/is incorporated in an elementary social studies methods courses and classrooms or B) present research on elementary preservice teachers or how elementary teachers and students engage controversial issues. This reader unpacks specific controversial issues for elementary social studies for readers to gain critical content knowledge, teaching tips, lesson ideas, and recommended resources. Endorsement: (Re)Imagining Elementary Social Studies is a timely and powerful collection that offers the best of what social studies education could and should be. Grounded in a politics of social justice, this book should be used in all elementary social studies methods courses and schools in order to develop the kinds of teachers the world needs today. -- Wayne Au, Professor, University of Washington Bothell, Editor, Rethinking Schools

Teaching controversial issues in the classroom is now more urgent and fraught than ever as we face up to rising authoritarianism, racial and economic injustice, and looming environmental disaster. Despite evidence that teaching controversy is critical, educators often avoid it. How then can we prepare and support teachers to undertake this essential but difficult work? Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues, based on a cross-national qualitative study, examines teacher educators’ efforts to prepare preservice teachers for teaching controversial issues that matter for democracy, justice, and human rights. It presents four detailed cases of teacher preparation in three politically divided societies: Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. The book traces graduate students’ learning from university coursework into the classrooms where they work to put what they have learned into practice. It explores their application of pedagogical tools and the factors that facilitated or hindered their efforts to teach controversy. The book’s cross-national perspective is compelling to a broad and diverse audience, raising critical questions about teaching controversial issues and providing educators, researchers, and policymakers tools to help them fulfill this essential democratic mission of education.

The Wiley Handbook of Social Studies Research is a wide-ranging resource on the current state of social studies education. This timely work not only reflects on the many recent developments in the field, but also explores emerging trends. This is the first major reference work on social studies education and research in a decade An in-depth look at the current state of social studies education and emerging trends Three sections cover: foundations of social studies research, theoretical and methodological frameworks guiding social studies research, and current trends and research related to teaching and learning social studies A state-of-the-art guide for both graduate students and established researchers Guided by an advisory board of well-respected scholars in social studies education research

Through rich empirical research from real classrooms throughout the nation, Controversy in the Classroom demonstrates why schools have the potential to be particularly powerful sites for democratic education.

From the fights about the teaching of evolution to the details of sex education, it may seem like American schools are hotbeds of controversy. But as Jonathan Zimmerman and Emily Robertson show in this insightful book, it is precisely because such topics are so inflammatory outside school walls that they are so commonly avoided within them. And this, they argue, is a tremendous disservice to our students. Armed with a detailed history of the development of American educational policy and norms and a clear philosophical analysis of the value of contention in public discourse, they show that one of the best things American schools should do is face controversial topics dead on, right in their classrooms. Zimmerman and Robertson highlight an aspect of American politics that we know all too well: We are terrible at having informed, reasonable debates. We opt instead to hurl insults and accusations at one another or, worse, sit in silence and privately ridicule the other side. Wouldn’t an educational system that focuses on how to have such debates in civil and mutually respectful ways improve our public culture and help us overcome the political impasses that plague us today? To realize such a system, the authors argue that we need to not only better prepare our educators for the teaching of hot-button issues, but also provide them the professional autonomy and legal protection to do so. And we need to know exactly what constitutes a controversy, which is itself a controversial issue. The existence of climate change, for instance, should not be subject to discussion in schools: scientists overwhelmingly agree that it exists. How we prioritize it against other needs, such as economic growth, however—that is worth a debate. With clarity and common-sense wisdom, Zimmerman and Robertson show that our squeamishness over controversy in the classroom has left our students woefully underserved as future citizens. But they also show that we can fix it: if we all just agree to disagree, in an atmosphere of mutual respect.