Teaching Sensitive Topics

The ‘Teaching Sensitive Topics’ project was set up to support tutors at the Open University in providing tuition to students studying modules that contained potentially sensitive material that might be triggering or upsetting. The aims were:   

• To develop tutors’ understanding of topics that might be sensitive for many students, such as sexual violence, PTSD, self-harm and suicide.

• To raise awareness that other ‘hidden sensitive topics’ may be triggering for some students, as a result of their personal history (e.g. adverse childhood experiences, experiences in the criminal justice system).

• To explore when topics become sensitive and how they can be hotly debated and to consider the range of emotional reactions that can occur. 

• To increase the confidence of tutors in relation to teaching sensitive topics in order to provide a better learning experience for students.  

Drawing on insights from academic literature as well as on feedback from tutors who participated in a workshop on ‘teaching sensitive topics’ at the Open University’s annual psychology and counselling tutor conference, the project team produced the ‘Teaching sensitive topics’ toolkit. This is an online training resource that provides useful, practical guidance to tutors. It explains the principles of sensitive topics, outlines the opportunities and challenges of teaching these topics, and identifies key sources of support for students and tutors. The tool is designed to be a practical resource that supports tutors in their day-to-day life.  

• The interactive toolkit was launched on an internal university platform in May 2020 to provide support for tutors across all faculties of the university.  As well as raising awareness of sensitive topics and providing guidance on both online and face-to-face tuition, it also uses Wikis to identify potential sensitive topics across all four faculties and to gather information from tutors about their experiences in working on sensitive topics with their students.

​In the first year of its launch, the toolkit has been visited by more than 700 tutors and other staff. Of those who completed the feedback questionnaire: 

• 86% said that it improved their awareness of sensitive topics.

• 93% reported that the toolkit gave them strategies for teaching sensitive topics.

• 83% said that the toolkit made them more confident about teaching sensitive topics. 

The project team is about to start work on an external interactive resource which will be widely accessible to educators outside of the university.