The Office for Students (OfS) has published a ‘disturbing’ poll of academics across the UK which found that many do not feel free to discuss controversial topics while teaching.
As the regulator for English universities, the OfS has published guidance to help institutions facilitate lawful free speech and mitigate chilling effects caused by censorship of controversial topics.
Alongside this guidance, the OfS also published the results of a poll conducted in 2024, which had until now been held back while the government reviewed the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act.
The poll surveyed academics in England across the political spectrum and found that one in five academics on both the political left and right do not feel free to touch on controversial topics while teaching.
A quarter (24%) of those who do not feel free in their teaching cite fear of physical attack, with respondents also citing fear of professional and social consequences, as well as a desire to avoid offence, as a reason they do not feel free to discuss controversial topics.
OfS Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom, Arif Ahmed said he was deeply disturbed by the findings of this poll and that this situation was untenable.
“The results of this poll are deeply disturbing, and show that a sizeable minority of academics from across the political spectrum do not feel free to teach, research or discuss controversial topics.”
5% are reluctant to teach such topics because they are concerned about physical attack. This cannot stand, and should concern vice-chancellors up and down the country,” he said.
“Universities should now take steps to ensure that they are robust and unwavering in their support for academic freedom.”
The topics academics find taboo when teaching
The poll asked academics who said they do not feel free when teaching which controversial topics in particular they felt they were not free to discuss.
At the top of the list were sex and gender, as well as race and racism. This held true for both those who identified as politically left and right.
The study noted that those who identify as right-wing were more likely to cite feeling restricted when discussing topics such as immigration or medical ethics.
37% of those who said they do not feel free while teaching said they felt restricted when discussing domestic politics, including Brexit, Covid-19, and party politics, while 52% said they felt unfree discussing international political topics, including the Israel-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, the Middle East, and China.
The image below is extracted from the OfS poll and shows which topics academics found most taboo to discuss when teaching.
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