Critical Pedagogy 101
Sure, it sounds neat. But how do you know when you are doing it well?
Last updated
Sure, it sounds neat. But how do you know when you are doing it well?
Last updated
Critical pedagogy (CP) is an educational philosophy that emphasizes emancipation from oppression. Critical classroom environments foster critical consciousness and democratic participation. Facilitators of these spaces act like stewards rather than subject matter experts.
Let's bust some myths up-front. CP is not:
Extra Work for Educators - In fact, these techniques should significantly reduce the workload on an educator over time. In CP, all parties share the responsibility of learning. There is often less content to write and design beforehand. Unlike conventional classrooms, instructors are not solely responsible for capturing their audience's attention.
An Afterthought - CP has the biggest impact when it is the primary philosophy of a learning environment. Participants are - rightly - discouraged when they are encouraged to practice critical consciousness but notice their educational environment prevents it.
Only Appropriate for Classroom Settings - Unlike conventional teaching methods, critical learning spaces are highly contextual. Mentorship and coaching programs can integrate CP practices. Conferences and public meetings can use these practices as well.
Critical pedagogy practitioners are opposed to the banking model of education, a term coined by theologian and educator Paulo Freire. This metaphor describes students like containers into which teachers make "deposits" of knowledge. The banking model prioritizes obedience, rote memorization, and passivity.
In contrast, Freire proposed a problem posing model. In problem posing education the emphasis is on listening, dialogue, and action.
Listening is key not only for the educator (to understand what participants want to learn) but for the the participants who can always learn a great deal from one another.
Emphasizing dialogue evokes ancient, Socratic, and indigenous best practices.
Action refers to our natural instinct to apply what we learn as immediately as possible. Action also refers to the potential for community change to arise from educational settings. (e.g. Collective Courage study groups)
Critical pedagogy also advocates for political dialogue in educational spaces. Teaching is inherently a political act because it always affects a participant's relationship with public affairs. By following the status quo, a teacher promotes the status quo. If they foster a classroom that prioritizes obedience, students will prioritize obedience in their personal life, professional life, and public life. CP argues that educators can emancipate learners from passive or dogmatic thinking.
CP practitioners also strive for culturally-sustaining pedagogy. They make a conscious effort to preserve native languages. They promote equal access to educational resources for all racial and ethnic communities.
This section needs some work. Do you have personal experiences or ideas we could include here?
The ideas above are deeply serious and they pose significant challenges to the status quo in many educational spaces. That does not mean we can't have fun while transforming those spaces. A playful mindset may be a necessity for progress.
Furthermore, our existential need to experience awe is not well-served by conventional education. Yet it is an essential experience for motivating a learner. Often, our instructors are trying their best to pass on their own sense of awe to others. But awe arises organically, often unexpectedly from within a person.
We can create the conditions necessary for awe and playfulness in a few ways:
Encourage participants to verbally respond to new information. Use a round-robin format to ensure every participant is included.
Recognize that people who describe themselves as introverted may be experiencing awe in their own way. They may also prefer passive activities or written activities like journaling.
Model awe without trying to push it on others. Tell your story rather than skipping to the epiphany and asking the group, "This is amazing, right?"
Use humor in the classroom. Affirm participants who bring humor to the classroom.
If you have not already done so, consider when you first recognized the social convention that children are silly but adults are not. How old were you? What environments have discouraged you from being silly?
Unlearning - It can be helpful to name what is happening in critical spaces as it is happening. Unlearning involves naming and discussing out loud the parts of an old mental model that are no longer useful.
Hidden Curriculum - This is what educators teach students without even realizing it is happening. This includes unspoken beliefs, values, and norms that are often very harmful. (e.g. To be successful in life you must out-compete your peers. Therefore, you should strive to be the valedictorian of your class.)
Learning to Labour - This phrase was coined in the 1977 book by Paul Willis. He observed disaffected high school students rebelling against their teacher's authority which, counter-intuitively, stripped them of their economic power later in life. The students failed to act in solidarity and instead mythologized oppressive, dead-end workplaces. If those learning models create so much harm, why do we keep using them even today?
We hope this checklist will be a useful starting point. This is not a comprehensive list, and we hope to expand it with your input in the future!
Are you using a physical layout that positions participants and facilitators on the same level?
A circle of chairs. Open space technology. Zoom breakout sessions. Visual remote spaces (e.g. Gather)
Place rows of chairs into a "U" shape so more attendees can see each others' faces.
Are participants encouraged to pose their own questions for self-study?
A cohort working on a startup pitch over the course of several weeks as part of a co-op accelerator.
Present the group with a genuine choice; perhaps two sub-topics related to the main topic that may interest one audience more than another?
Are the participants complacent most of the time or are they active in their learning?
Break up an old lecture into 3-5 logical sections. Print each section on its own piece of paper. Have small groups take turns letting each member read their section and facilitate a short discussion.
Are contrasting views presented?
Challenge participants to imagine (or share their knowledge of) how indigenous groups may present an alternate history of cooperative practices.
The presenter or facilitator explains what social and economic factors shaped their personal perspective on the topic.
Did you make room for unlearning?
Pair up and have each person share how they first learned classroom norms. (e.g. When it is OK to ask a question, how they prefer to work on group projects.)
Use unlearning in your check-outs or debriefs. e.g. Ask the group to "Share something about your mental model that has changed after this experience - what is no longer relevant or effective?"
Are you encouraging participation in civic life?
Participants share what they know about local policy barriers related to the topic at hand. Participants brainstorm local organizations and individuals that could help them overcome policy barriers.
Are there 10 minutes at the end of the session that could be used to encourage participants to form a study group or affinity group to build on what they learned? e.g. "If you decided to form a study group, when, how often and where would you prefer to meet?"
Where is the awe, the joy, and playfulness in your topic?
Use games designed to promote social action, such as those created by the TESA Collective. Ask your group to form pairs or triads and discuss prompts connecting awe and cooperation. Create space for savoring during activities. Model savoring by verbalizing it when you have an authentic personal moment.
Share with the group the story of how you first encountered this topic and/or what makes you passionate about the topic.
Can you immediately put this knowledge to use? Answer these discussion prompts yourself:
How does this webpage itself fail to follow CP best practices? (Feel free to contact us with your ideas!)
Think about the last class, workshop, or webinar you attended. Did the presenters tie the lesson to any specific policy change goals or social actions? Do you think they could have?
What experiences have you had with CP-adjacent educational spaces? What was positive about those experiences? What were some negatives?
What personal habits and beliefs came to mind when you read the brief section above on unlearning?
If you invited friends to a study group related to critical pedagogy, what would be a good guiding question for the group to start with? (Or: What angle, lens, or personal experience would you approach the study group from?)
How would you re-design the checklist to make it more useful in your educational setting?
How could you apply experiential education models to a lesson on Critical Pedagogy 101?
Can you apply Kolb's Cycle to this lesson? You have likely been exposed to new information. Then you were asked to reflected on that information. Next, we need to form our personal abstractions on that information and decide how to experiment with it further.
How would you put these ideas into your own words? These prompts may help:
How does CP fit into your personal educational philosophy? Is it a big part? Are there other lenses or approaches to learning that you value more?
What concept resonated most strongly with you and why?
Do you plan to save or bookmark some of these ideas for future use?
In which settings in your work or personal life are these ideas most relevant?
Join our community. We believe learning is a process that happens in dialogue with others.
Learn more: https://www.dns-tvind.dk/critical-pedagogy/
