While both students and tutors were generally supportive of the need to teach controversial issues in school because of its potential to help learners develop skills such as looking at evidence critically, they identified a number of obstacles. One obstacle noted in both contexts and equally in schools and teacher education was curriculum coverage, the backwash effects of tests and examinations (and, in England in particular, the existence of school league tables), which meant that the pace of learning was rushed and so there was little time for discussion in schools and universities. One South African student remarked that she thought that learners were afraid to speak out because it might affect their marks. This could be a particular problem in South African schools where there can be classes of 50 pupils, but it was also noted that it was a problem in teacher education as well. Indeed, one tutor in South Africa described both schools and teacher education as being a bit like a factory because the pressures of time and the need to get the ‘product out’.