In ELT, we are encouraged to be ‘neutral.’ We use the PARSNIPS acronym (Politics, Alcohol, Religion, Sex, Narcotics, Isms, Pork) to identify topics that should be avoided to prevent conflict in the classroom. From a management perspective, this is often seen as the ‘safe’ route—a way to ensure the school remains a business-focused, harmonious environment. However, in a geo-politically complex and volatile world, this ‘neutrality’ can become a trap. When we manage teachers and students in regions affected by war, occupation, or extreme political shifts, pretending the ‘P’ (Politics) doesn’t exist isn’t being neutral, it is being insensitive, and if we’re being honest, disconnected from reality.
Paul Freire, among many other similar quotes, said, ‘washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.’ He referred to the banking model of education where teachers ‘deposit’ facts into passive students in a neutral classroom. And this neutrality extends to large teaching corporations vs teachers and staff, countries and imperialism, native speakerism and passport driven or race driven hiring, and many other areas that could impact the mental health of staff and students.
I look at my own mental health over the last few years, and how pressure, global instability, dealing with teachers who couldn’t return home during COVID, dealing with teachers and students I have and continue to work with in Gaza, Turkey, and Syria, and I realise that ‘forced neutrality’ does more harm than good. This blog looks at the dangers of neutrality, and how to avoid the trap.
When Neutrality Becomes Indifference
As managers, we need to recognize that for many of our staff, these ‘forbidden topics’ are not abstract debates. They are lived realities. The classroom is not a sanctuary or a safe space for everyone. It is not a vacuum void of any hurt, pain, or conflict. We don’t want to turn the classroom into a battlefield of political opinions, but we have to realise our students, whether they be refugees, or migrants, and even just adults with job pressures, or families and friends in conflict zones, or people with financial or home problems, bring trauma with them.
There is a big difference between acknowledging and agitating. I think about how many people I have lost trust in simply because they opted for neutrality rather than acknowledging a tragedy for fear of political or career repercussions. At the very least, acknowledge. Not silence. Not suppress. Not hope it will go away. Acknowledge.
Practical Management Notes for a Complex World
How do we lead when the standard ‘neutral’ stance fails?
To teachers: Claim permission to be human and allow permission to be human. Step away from the grammar point, or the lexical set, or the task at hand, and be in the moment with the students around you. I have heard people saying teachers should avoid crying or showing emotions in exams, or in the classroom. I remember bursting into tears in an IELTS exam (as an examiner) when a girl told me a story of helping a father and daughter who had booked a trip with the mom, but she passed suddenly, only to realise the booking wasn’t completed. It was the longest, but also the best IELTS speaking Part 2 ever.
For managers: Support people who are stuck, but not just physically stuck like during COVID. Emotionally stuck. I teach students at Al Aqsa university, and there have been days where I have been so pre-occupied with their safety, or their ability to find food and shelter, that I have been unable to concentrate on anything else. I realise, at times I was so focused on my concerns, that I ignored the people around me who were ‘stuck’ in other ways.
Looking forward
As we move further into 2026, the challenges facing the ELT community are likely to grow. Obviously, we all hope for peace and success for ourselves, our staff and our students.
It is perhaps time that we reinvent what ELT is. Reinvent what ELT means to us and our students. Move beyond neutrality. Move away from a world where our students are learning English to assimilate, to a world where they are learning English to advocate for themselves. I hope for myself that this blog is the start of a journey where I can offer a clearer pathway for myself and those around me to avoid neutrality. To side with and support the powerless.
