Suicide dropped from sociology lessons – are some topics too sensitive for school?

Imagine walking into a classroom to teach a lesson on suicide knowing that one of your students recently tried to take her own life.

“I felt really nervous,” says Maria, an experienced sociology teacher who found herself in exactly that situation. “I was half hoping this student might be absent, so I could teach the topic without her there.” It’s a problem that won’t arise again for Maria: students sitting A-levels this week will be the last to be examined on suicide. From September, AQA – the largest exam board for sociology A-levels – is dropping the topic from its syllabus and removing references to it from textbooks.

Until now, Emile Durkheim’s 1897 study of suicide has been a central part of A-level sociology. It’s a seminal study, significant in the history and development of sociology as a science. But concerns that some students may be distressed by the topic mean it will no longer feature in AQA’s syllabus.

With just under 25,000 students entered for AQA’s A-level last year – compared with only 6,000 at other exam boards – the decision to drop Durkheim’s study will change the way sociology is taught in most schools. Teachers can still choose to cover suicide, but in reality anything excluded from the syllabus is unlikely to be taught.

Rupert Sheard, AQA qualifications manager, says the decision was reached in consultation with teachers, and reflects a balance between keeping the subject exciting and maintaining “a duty of care to all those students taking our course to make sure the content isn’t going to cause them undue distress”.

But can studying Durkheim’s analysis of 19th century suicide statistics cause distress? And if so, is that a legitimate reason to remove such a significant text from an A-level course?

Laura Campion has just qualified as a sociology teacher at Hayes school, a mixed comprehensive in Bromley, Kent. She took the AQA A-level herself four years ago. “Suicide is one of my favourite parts of it, to be honest,” she says. “I think it’s fascinating. In order to teach sociology as a science it’s the perfect example. I will miss teaching it.”

Campion acknowledges that suicide can be a sensitive topic. But she’s confident that strong pastoral care and an emphasis on sociology as a rigorous, academic discipline lessens the risk of any distress. The school’s head of sociology, Kate Gordon, agrees. In 12 years, she has never had a problem teaching about suicide. “Students know what they’ve signed up for when they take the course,” she says. “It’s not about personal anecdote. We’re training them to debate and to argue, but sensibly and within the realms of the subject.”

For Gordon’s students, sociology offers a rare opportunity to analyse difficult issues. Eloise Pasmore-O’Pray and RéRé Olutimehin are about to sit their A-levels. They’re adamant that sensitive subjects shouldn’t be avoided just because of the possibility that the topic might make someone upset. “I don’t think it’s worth stopping teaching something because of that,” says Pasmore-O’Pray. Olutimehin doesn’t think it will help students either. “When you’re hiding stuff from them in school, it’s just going to make things difficult for them.”

These sentiments are echoed by Ged Flynn, chief executive of Papyrus, a charity working to prevent youth suicide. Flynn argues that concern about possible distress is not a valid reason for changing the curriculum. “Why are they removing this part of the syllabus? It’s not because Durkheim has suddenly become less important. It’s been dropped because people feel uncomfortable teaching about suicide because of the stigma and pain. But suicide won’t go away if we feel sensitive about it. Teachers need to get over themselves or get a new job.”

The suicide element of the A-level course is highly theoretical, focusing on methodology and the use of statistics to understand social phenomena. For Flynn, academic analyses of suicide can be as important as what is taught in PSHE. “Culturally we need to stop just putting suicide in certain places. It should be part of all lessons. The research shows that if I am suicidal, I am desperate for you to talk about it. If an essay on Durkheim gives a student the opportunity to discuss suicide, even in a theoretical way, that can save lives.”

Suicide is not the only sensitive issue in sociology, and many teachers find other topics challenging to teach. “The biggest issue is domestic violence,” says Sarah Worton, a former sociology teacher who now runs the Institute of Education’s PGCE in social science. In her experience, units on race and ethnicity, class and educational attainment can also create difficult situations in the classroom.

But, as she explains, PGCE students learn how to deal with these sensitive topics through scenarios that come up throughout the course. Worton’s own approach is to establish boundaries about how issues are discussed, warn any students affected about potentially distressing subjects, and give them a choice about whether, and how, they study the topic.

Campion has already had to put these strategies into practice on a placement at another school, teaching a student with direct experience of domestic violence. “The way I handled it was to approach the child beforehand and explain: this is what we’re going to do next lesson. I would like you to be in that lesson because it is part of this course, and we do have to do it. But if you feel uncomfortable and you do want to leave, feel free. I told her we could do it at a different time alone.”

On this occasion, the student ended up sharing her experience with the rest of the class. “The other students listened, they were respectful, and it helped her,” says Campion.

Despite Maria’s initial anxiety about teaching the suicide lesson, her student also ended up fully participating in the class, though from a purely academic perspective. Maria describes how she adapted the lesson. Rather than using her usual introduction to the topic, which involves sharing the experience of a suicide within her family, Maria stuck to a theoretical examination of Durkheim’s work. The lesson remained focused on methodology, and there was no opportunity for personal discussion.

This approach worked for Maria and her student, and it has convinced her that the solution to distressing issues lies in how you teach them, rather than removing them. “If they are dropping suicide because it causes distress to students, then there’s so much content they may as well drop from sociology. For example, I dealt with a student who was a victim of a sexual assault. And I did find it really uncomfortable to teach her the feminist views on courts. How they’re seen as patriarchal, and how in rape cases it’s almost like the women are on trial.

“That made me really uncomfortable because I didn’t want her to feel that she shouldn’t go to court, or that was going to happen to her. It was much worse than the suicide lesson. But I just tried my best to teach it in a neutral way.”

Maria points out that she loves sociology precisely because it’s topical. “That’s what makes it interesting. And that’s real life as well,” she says. What matters most to her is how you deal with that challenge. “If you’re teaching sociology it’s your responsibility to make sure that you address topics in an appropriate manner and create a safe environment for all your students to learn in.”