Critical pedagogies for community building: challenging ableism in higher education physical education in the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACT Enacting critical pedagogies within physical education (PE) contexts have been found to increase critical consciousness and disrupt hegemonic taken-for-granted assumptions about ability and the body. As an under-researched area, the aim of our research was to explore the extent to which a critical pedagogical approach in PE can disrupt normative ableist notions of disability through a disability-specific, critically orientated, tennis class. Six students from a large southeastern US university chose to participate and student video narratives and reflective essays were collated as data sources. Through inductive and deductive data analysis, the key themes constructed were: (1) ‘the learning journey in critical education’, underpinned by the following subthemes: (i) ‘initial shock’, (ii) ‘new experiences’, and (iii) ‘humbling encounters’; and (2) ‘consequences of critical pedagogy’, supported by (a) ‘building a community through meaningful relationships’, and (b) ‘change in perspective’. We conclude by discussing the pedagogical potential of our critical approach.