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NSTA Position Statement:
The Freedom to Teach and the Freedom to Learn
NSTA believes that a teacher's freedom to teach involves both the right and the responsibility to use the highest intellectual standards in studying, investigating, presenting, interpreting and discussing ideas and facts relevant to his or her field of expertise. NSTA has therefore set forth the following standards in regard to the freedom to teach and learn:
I. As professionals, teachers must be free to examine controversial issues openly in the classroom. The right to examine controversial issues is based on the democratic commitment to open inquiry and on the importance of decision-making involving opposing points of view and the free examination of ideas. The teacher is professionally obligated to maintain a spirit of free inquiry, open-mindedness and impartiality in the classroom. Informed diversity is a hallmark of democracy to be protected, defended, and valued.
II. Many state legislatures, boards of education, and school administrators have shown disregard for the teacher's professional role in dealing with controversial issues in the classroom. Consequently, it is important that the National Science Teachers Association as a professional organization act forcefully to insure that teachers have a significant role in determining educational policy. If freedom to teach is to be meaningful, teachers must participate in decisions regarding the organization, presentation, and evaluation of instruction, and in determining the competency of other teachers and administrators. The same is true of the freedom to learn. Commitment to the freedom to learn demands student involvement in curricular decisions and instructional evaluations.
III. Teachers should be encouraged to participate in community affairs. Such participation is important in its own right as well as for the modeling of active citizenship for students. Such participation is a part of the freedom to teach. Boards of education must support community involvement by making it clear that judgments of professional competency will not be biased by teachers' personal, religious, political, social, or economic beliefs. As agents of a democratic society, teachers must not advocate the use of violence to achieve social or political change. However, the use of violence must still be considered a legitimate topic for classroom discussion. Boards of education and professional organizations have an obligation to protect teachers from unjustified attacks based on classroom performance or community participation. This obligation calls for the education of community members and students concerning the legitimate roles of teachers as professional educators and concerned citizens. Boards of education and professional organizations must give both moral and financial support for teachers when such attacks occur.
Ultimately, the freedom to teach and to learn will exist only if a continuing effort is made to educate all Americans about these freedoms. Professional educators must set an example in their communities that illustrates respect for schools and classrooms and a free marketplace for ideas. An appreciation for the concerns of parents and other members of the community who legitimately disagree must be respected. We, as professional educators, must show our faith in the freedom to teach and learn that honors opposing viewpoints.
—Adopted by the NSTA Board of Directors
July 1985