The Theories and Theorists that Shape our Understanding of the Learning Process
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Overview & Resources
References
In selecting content, ensure that a diversity of perspectives is represented.
Critically examine course content to detect the influence of dominant ideology, and be sure to include alternative voices which do not support that ideology. For instance, a course on American history might include Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States as required reading. The Zinn Education Project provides additional resources.
Model the critical analysis of everyday materials to unveil the active presence of dominant ideology. Instructors can introduce cultural artifacts (such as advertisements, popular songs, etc.) and demonstrate a critical analysis of the material, talking through how the artifact represents the dominant ideology. Other media can also be used to do this, such as the films Mickey Mouse Monopoly or Killing Us Softly 3.
Provide opportunities for learners to articulate personal narrative of their own lived experience, and incorporate that as course content (equal in value and validity to “expert opinion”).
This could happen through learning journals that are read and shared in class.
Provide opportunities for dialogue, but be aware of ways in which group discussion can reproduce rather than challenge existing power structures.
Brookfield (2005) provides a helpful discussion of how a circular seating arrangement can actually be oppressive rather than liberating. In course dialogues, an “affirmative action” approach of elevating marginalized voices may be necessary.
Actively challenge the appearance of dominant ideology when it arises.
The learning facilitator should not be so “facilitative” that she ignores the emergence of dominant ideology in course discussions and allows it to stand unchallenged. Instead, she must ask hard, challenging questions and be directive in identifying the pervasive influence of dominant ideology.
Utilize instructional/facilitation methods that engage the whole person.
One aspect of the oppressive dominant ideology that critical pedagogy seeks to overcome is the dichotomization of human life in which the abstract mind is separated from other parts of life. Instead, critical pedagogy insists that learning should be fun, physical, and emotional.
Engage learners in learning projects oriented toward transformative social change.
Such an approach could draw on the benefits of project-based learning for learning transfer, and is entirely consistent with critical pedagogy’s emphasis on transformative change as the goal for learning.
Akom, A. A. (2009). Critical hip hop pedagogy as a form of liberatory praxis. Equity & Excellence in Education, 42(1), 52-66. doi: 10.1080/10665680802612519
Brookfield, S. D. (2005). The power of critical theory: Liberating adult learning and teaching [Kindle edition]. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hardré, P. L. (2013). Considering components, types, and degrees of authenticity in designing technology to support transfer. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2013(137), 39-47. doi: 10.1002/ace.20043
Rowe, A. C. (2012). Erotic pedagogies. Journal of Homosexuality, 59, 1031–1056. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2012.699844
Additional leaders in the field of critical pedagogy include:
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Henry Giroux (b. 1943)
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Peter McLaren (b. 1948)
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Stephen D. Brookfield (b. 1949)
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Bell Hooks (b. 1952)
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Cornel West (b. 1953)
Other Leaders in the Field
Learning about critical pedagogy and its theorists
http://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/radicalteacher
http://www.radicalpedagogy.org/radicalpedagogy.org/Current_Issue.html
http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/mclaren/
http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/Philosophical_Foundations_Flow_Chart.htm
Resources for applying critical pedagogy
http://www.criticalmethods.org/
http://www.genderandeducation.com/resources/pedagogies/feminist-pedagogy/
This Brazilian educator developed Critical Pedagogy as a theory of education as liberatory praxis.
Critical pedagogy is an approach to education which attempts to raise learners’ awareness (consciousness) of unjust social systems and expand learners’ capacities for transforming their world in the direction of a more just social order. In some senses, it can be situated within the humanist paradigm because it focuses on helping learners to realize their full potential, free not only of personal barriers but also of social oppression. Indeed, Paulo Freire described the objective of helping learners become “more fully human.” However, there are some differences between critical pedagogy and the mainstream humanist education paradigm. In critical pedagogy, there is more room for directiveness on the part of the instructor, and there is a critical awareness that the individually-chosen, self-directed goals of each learner may reproduce existing power structures rather than challenge them. Critical pedagogy therefore reflects a “radical humanism.”
Links
Key Contributors to the Theory
The framework draws on the insights of critical theory, most notably represented by the Frankfurt school. Key background theorists therefore include:
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Karl Marx (1818-1883)
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Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
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Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979)
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Erich Fromm (1900-1980)
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Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
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Jürgen Habermas (b. 1929)
Radical/Critical Psychologists
Facilitation
Application and Learning Transfer
Learning Transfer Within Critical Pedagogy
Critical pedagogy makes two major contributions to learning transfer.
The first is its radical insistence that the learning process begin with the lived experience of the learners. In this respect, it is consistent with the broader humanist education paradigm. Thus, (radical) humanist education involves “learning transfer in reverse.” Rather than starting with a teaching topic and then hoping to find a way to help the learners apply it in their lived experience, this approach to education begins with the lived experience of the learners and situates the learning process within the framework of that experience. Connections with lived experience are thus intrinsic (“hard-wired” in) to the learning process itself. Because the educational approach is rooted in the lived experience of the learners, authenticity (which is recognized as a key factor in learning transfer – see Hardré, 2013) is built in to the learning process.
The second major contribution to learning transfer is the pervasive change of perspective accomplished by critical pedagogy. Dominant ideology is pervasive, invading every aspect of our lives to the degree that we are nearly incapable of escaping it and gaining an external, objective perspective on it. One of the major goals of critical pedagogy, however, is to transform learners’ awareness, so that they become critically conscious of the systems of oppression which pervade their world. It is to be expected that, once such a transformation of learners’ awareness is achieved, it will radically change the way in which they view their world. It is nearly certain that learners who become aware of the way in which gender stereotypes are present in advertising through classroom examples will have that same “critical radar” activated as they encounter advertising outside the classroom. One the learners’ eyes have been opened, it is difficult (though not impossible) to have them shut again. In this regard, transformed awareness is transfer. When students come back and complain that they can never watch a Disney movie again without seeing evidence of the dominant ideology, we know that critical learning transfer has indeed taken place.
Current Applications
Critical pedagogy remains an actively developing field within (adult) education. While the Marxist analysis of class oppression remains foundational to critical theory (and hence to critical pedagogy), other forms of oppression can be addressed through critical pedagogy. Feminist pedagogy would be one application of critical pedagogy to a specific dimension of oppression. Queer pedagogy would be another. Some other interesting explorations include the integration of hip hop culture with critical pedagogy in the formation of a “critical hip hop pedagogy” (Akom, 2009) and the proposal of an “erotic” pedagogy (Rowe, 2012).
Radical /
Critical Theory
Critical pedagogy is an approach to education which attempts to raise learners’ awareness (consciousness) of unjust social systems and expand learners’ capacities for transforming their world in the direction of a more just social order.
This overview of Radical/Critical theory was prepared by Mark Fender (mark.fender@iteams.org)