Feminist Pedagogy in Theory and Practice: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

Most women's studies theorists agree on the principles and goals of women's studies pedagogy, yet serious concerns about the legitimacy and distinctiveness of these teaching methods have been raised. There is virtually no empirical data on the nature and range of teaching methods currently endorsed by women's studies teachers to inform this debate. The present study provides the first data of this kind. We developed a scale to measure teachers' commitment to fourfacets of women's studies pedagogy described by feminist pedagogic theorists: creation of participatory classroom communities, validation of personal experience, encouragement of social understanding and activism, and development of critical thinking skills/open-mindedness. Results from 105 teachers from seven midwestern universities indicated strong endorsement of all pedagogy facets across teacher gender, race, age, teaching experience, and institutional affiliation. Contrary to recent critiques of feminist pedagogy, teachers strongly endorsed the critical thinking and open-mindedness goals, particularly if they had more extensive women's studies experience and involvement. Further, teachers distinguished between their pedagogic commitments in Women's Studies versus non-women's studies classes. The field of Women's Studies has expanded dramatically since the first courses were offered in 1970. The critiques of dominant paradigms and compensatory research efforts that characterized its early stages generated an explosion of scholarship that has significantly expanded the undergraduate women's studies curriculum, made possible the development of graduate level instruction, and propelled efforts to integrate the evolving scholarship on women across the curriculum (see Howe, F., 1991; NWSA Task Force, 1992; Musil, 1992a; Yllo, 1989). Throughout the This content downloaded from 157.55.39.17 on Fri, 02 Sep 2016 05:31:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 80 FRANCES L. HOFFMANN AND JAYNE E. STAKE evolution of the field, the processes of teaching women's studies courses have received considerable scholarly attention, resulting in a significant body of theory that attempts to define elements of feminist teaching. That literature has drawn the attention of critics of Women's Studies who have questioned the legitimacy of the pedagogic approaches espoused by feminist teachers (see Lehrman, 1993; Patai & Koertge,1994; Hoff Sommers, 1994). Still others have raised questions about the distinctiveness of the approaches endorsed in the feminist pedagogy literature, pointing to their similarity with those of other liberatory pedagogy movements (see Kenway and Modra, 1992; Luke and Gore, 1992; Weiler, 1995). Despite all that has been written about feminist pedagogy, few of the claims of advocates or critics have been empirically documented. Investigations of student outcomes of women's studies courses provide evidence that such courses affect students' personal lives and relationships, political/social activism, and critical thinking skills, but none has explored the mechanisms through which these changes take place.' Maher and Tetreault's (1994) observations of classroom interactions provide rich insight into the teaching techniques of a highly selective set of women's studies faculty. However, no studies have directly assessed the nature or range of pedagogic approaches endorsed by a representative sample of women's studies faculty, a group increasingly diversified in terms of age, training, and routes to feminist scholarship. This paper describes the first empirical investigation of this kind. We first review the women's studies literature to identify elements of the definition of feminist pedagogy.2 We then report results of a study of the extent to which women's studies teachers today endorse these teaching methods and evaluate our findings in the light of current debates on feminist pedagogy. What is Women's Studies Pedagogy?3 We found considerable congruence in the characteristics of feminist teaching approaches described by women's studies theorists. In our review (see Figure 1), four aspects of women's studies were articulated with more or less specificity by a significant majority of those writing about feminist pedagogy. These include participatory learning, validation of personal experience, encouragement of social understanding and activism, and development of critical thinking and open-mindedness. Although critics of Women's Studies raise questions about the desirability of these characteristics and about the ways in which they have been implemented, both advocates and critics are in essential agreement that they comprise the major components of women's studies teaching discussed in the literature. Participatory learning. Women's studies pedagogists view classroom structures that encourage students to contribute their experiences and This content downloaded from 157.55.39.17 on Fri, 02 Sep 2016 05:31:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms FEMINIST PEDAGOGY IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 81 I; N: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE Il: IV: CRITICAL TIIINKINGI PARTICIPATORY (Promote (Affirm SOCIAL OPENMINDEONESS LEARNING personal personal UNDERSTANOINGI (critique (Affirm change) experience) ACTIVISM authority) diversity) Boxer, 1982 x x x x x Friedman, 1985 X X X CuIley, 1985 X X X X Shrewsbury. 1987 X X X X Schneldewind, 1987 X X X X X