As a social studies teacher your role is to teach about the complexities of society and the interaction between individuals and society. A complex and controversial plot, which cannot be taught without coming into contact with controversial and delicate issues. It has also often been discussed in sociology teaching whether or not sociological research may or may not be worthless (******), this is a debate which is also on the minds of sociology teachers, whether sociology and similar subjects can be taught from a value-free position, however, given the nature of social science subjects such as sociology, citizenship, politics and history, it is inevitable that teachers of such fields will find themselves having to deal with controversial issues; however, it is how teachers manage this undertaking and what methodologies they implement. To respond effectively to the pose assignment title, it is crucial to firstly explore what is meant by controversial issues, what makes and poses controversial issues, secondly it is then important to explore through the surrounding literature on the roles that teachers have adopted in these situations, primarily exploring the debate over whether teachers should remain neutral when teaching these controversial issues. Finally, the goal is to identify the methodology that educators have cited as beneficial to teaching disputes within the school context. In addition to the literature, this essay will also address some examples of personal and practical experience in dealing with disputes during school placements. Ingredients for Controversies Looking at the literature surrounding the teaching of controversial issues, it is clear that defining controversial issues itself can be controversial and there is... half the paper... more controversies in the lessons. An important example of this was when covering beliefs in society with an A level class; the topic was science versus religion. I have used thought-provoking resources, including an interview by Richard Dawkins with atheist Ricky Gervais (Sex death and the Meaning of Life, 2012), however, as cited by Emerson (2012; P11), there are other factors that influence the teaching controversial issues, an ever-present factor in the first school experience was school ethics. This particular school has a Catholic ethos, so ultimately, as a teacher within that school, I had to respect this ethos, which was particularly difficult when exploring issues such as atheism and science as a belief system. Regardless of these external influences, the topic falls within the AQA specification for Sociology and therefore must be covered.