Critical Education
- Darlene Edgar
de Saxe, J. G., & Trotter-Simons, B.-E. (2021). Intersectionality, decolonization, and educating for critical consciousness: Rethinking praxis and resistance in education. Journal of Thought, 55(1/2), 3–20. https://discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=8cc85b22-e99b-3627-8399-8577fc5f383d
Democracy and Education:
Democracy is an ongoing struggle for political voice and social action.
Public education plays a vital role in fostering critical consciousness and democratic participation.
However, current university structures prioritize self-meritocracy and fail to prepare students to challenge inequalities and oppressions.
Critique of Hegemony and Whiteness:
Liberalism seeks to suppress critical thinking and maintain the status quo.
Neo-liberal co-opting of diversity politics leads to inadequate representation and unsafe environments for marginalized groups.
Universities perpetuate whiteness as the norm, reinforcing racial hierarchies.
Intersectionality as a Theoretical Framework:
Intersectionality provides a platform to recognize and analyze social inequalities based on various identifiers such as race, gender, age, and citizenship.
It challenges hegemonic understandings and traditional educational practices.
Intersectionality in Resistance and Resilience:
Intersectionality enables resistance against whiteness and colonial ideologies.
It fosters differential consciousness and relationality, promoting solidarity and coalition-building.
Decolonization Efforts:
Decolonization requires relinquishing colonial power and privilege.
Resistance and resilience are essential components of decolonization efforts, particularly in indigenous struggles.
Educating for Critical Consciousness:
Merging intersectionality with pedagogical practices promotes transformative action.
Learning spaces should resist dominant institutional boundaries and challenge common-sense understandings.
Embracing cognitive dissonance and critical interrogation fosters liberation and social change.
Mernick, A. (2021). Critical arts pedagogy: Nurturing critical consciousness and self-actualization through art education. Art Education, 74(5), 19–24. https://discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=eb4e31a1-9079-3b3c-86ee-e07709a8ab90
Role of Schools in Critical Consciousness:
Schools can either perpetuate the status quo or act as agents of liberation.
Freire advocated for teachers to help students develop critical consciousness by identifying and analyzing systems of inequity and oppression in society.
Art making plays a crucial role in developing critical awareness and transforming the world by encouraging active participation.
Artistic Process for Critical Awareness:
Art making involves observing, reflecting, envisioning, judging, and revising artwork.
Art can be used to imagine alternative worlds and challenge systems of oppression.
Scaffolding Critical Consciousness:
Anti-racist and anti-bias education is gaining popularity, emphasizing the importance of teaching diverse artists and curricula.
Educators aiming for social justice must transform classrooms into spaces where students recognize, process, and challenge systems of oppression.
Token activism units are replaced by a curriculum that scaffolds critical consciousness over time.
Incorporating Equity and Justice in Art Education:
Artistic techniques, concepts, and essential questions related to equity, liberation, and justice are incorporated into each unit.
Final projects focus on identity, grounding positionality, and recognizing spaces of power, oppression, and privilege.
Classroom Activities for Critical Awareness:
Identity mapping exercises on the first day help students recognize how social contexts shape identity.
Exploration of contemporary artists' work helps students investigate identity through art and uncover hidden messages.
Exhibitions of finished works facilitate conversations around students' art and encourage critical practice and reflection.
Assessment and Feedback:
Impact is measured by assessing for a critical lens and seeking feedback from alumni.
Continual cycles of critical self-reflection and improvement are essential for achieving the pedagogical goal of critical praxis.
Creating Safe Spaces for Dialogue:
Classrooms should be safe places for critical dialogue, where students can engage in difficult conversations and understand power dynamics.
Students self-actualize as critical citizens and freedom dream through their artwork, envisioning and creating the world they want to inhabit.
Modeling Liberated Classrooms:
Classrooms should be modeled after the liberated world educators wish to inhabit, with every aspect of planning and practice focused on meeting that goal.
Lyle, E. (2023). Learning with/in schools. Of books, barns, and boardrooms: Exploring praxis through reflexive inquiry (pp. 21-42). Brill. OF BOOKS, BARNS, AND BOARDROOMS: EXPLORING PRAXIS THROUGH REFLEXIVE INQUIRY.
Lyle's childhood lesson: Experts lack all answers.
Teenage experiences: Shame over agricultural background, striving for academic success.
Post-degree journey: Working on the land, reflective riding, recognizing value outside academia.
Challenges in teachers college: Criticism, lack of support, struggles with administration.
Practicum experience: Creating flexible assignments, negotiating individually with students.
Impactful student cases: Success despite low expectations, struggles of a ballet dancer.
Shift in perspective: Embracing new visions in education, pursuing a master's degree.
Adult learner program: Learner-centered, generative, giving voice to silenced individuals.
Program extension: Obtained through learner confidence and communication with management.
Program outcomes: GED certificates, secondary credits, trades training, personal growth.
Principles of adult learning: Autonomy, respect, relevance, readiness, internal motivation.
Relevance-oriented learning: Practical applications, tangible benefits, real-life scenarios.
Reflective inquiry: Providing new perspectives, holistic education, acknowledging complexity.
Humanizing practices: Guided learning, respect, trust, choice, relationality, philosophical implications
Palmer, P. (2017). The heart of a teacher: Identity and integrity in teaching. http://www.CourageRenewal.org <https://www.CourageRenewal.org>. https://couragerenewal.org/library/the-heart-of-a-teacher/
Great teachers are diverse: Varied teaching styles and approaches lead to successful learning experiences.
Identity and integrity in teaching: Teaching from true self, with authenticity and honesty, fosters connectedness and community in the classroom.
Teaching for identity and integrity: Embracing one's shadows, limits, wounds, and fears while discerning life-giving ways of relating to oneself and others.
Reclaiming the heart of teaching: No techniques exist; insights and understanding are sought to liberate from conditions that lead to losing heart.
Reconnecting with the inner teacher: Recognizing the inner core of our lives as the source of transformative teaching and learning.
Technique vs. true teaching: Technique serves as a temporary measure until genuine teaching emerges from identity and integrity.
Talking to ourselves: Solitude, reflection, journaling, and other practices help connect with the inner teacher and find authority within.
Balance between subject and student lives: Recognizing the diversity of perspectives among teachers regarding the primacy of subject matter versus student well-being.
Creating safe spaces for honesty: Encouraging open dialogue about struggles and joys in teaching to foster healing and growth.
Supporting each other: Providing encouragement and solidarity among fellow teachers to transcend fears and navigate challenges together.
Lyle, E. (2023). Learning with/in organisations. Of books, barns, and boardrooms: Exploring praxis through reflexive inquiry (pp. 61-73). Brill. OF BOOKS, BARNS, AND BOARDROOMS: EXPLORING PRAXIS THROUGH REFLEXIVE INQUIRY.
Workplace instruction: Lyle takes charge of program design and development, focusing on learner-centered, generative programs.
Program structure: Employees self-select and govern the program, which is employer-funded but allows flexibility in attendance.
Organizational impact: The program breaks down barriers between organizational levels, fostering peer learning and collaboration.
Expansion to corporate: Lyle is tasked with developing the learning model for multiple business units, facing challenges due to the physical and organizational distance between corporate headquarters and business sites.
Challenges in implementation: Despite success at the initial business unit, replicating the model across other units proves difficult due to a lack of organic growth and collaboration.
Resignation and new role: Lyle resigns to pursue a PhD but later becomes the national manager of learning for a human resource firm.
Struggles with alignment: Lyle faces challenges in aligning her educational philosophy with the profit-driven approach of the executive leadership.
Misalignment in training: Despite initial agreements, management shifts towards a one-size-fits-all approach, compromising the quality and customization of learning solutions.
Impact on outcomes: The focus on profit over meaningful education leads to the failure of the product and eventual closure of the business unit.
Commitment to meaningful education: Lyle emphasizes the importance of respect, deep communication, and trust in creating learning spaces that humanize education and prioritize learner needs.