Teachers’ approaches to the principles of critical pedagogy: a mixed-method study

Abstract

Critical pedagogy is a pluralistic approach that emphasizes the individual and his/her creative potential (Freire, 2010). Today’s schools are seen far from this process and the need for a renewal process becomes highly evident. The purpose of the current study is to investigate teachers’ opinions at different levels of education about the principles of critical pedagogy in terms of other variables. To this end, the study employed the “explanatory sequential mixed design,” one of the mixed-method approaches. In the quantitative dimension of the study, the participating teachers’ opinions were elicited by using the “Principles of Critical Pedagogy Scale” developed by Yılmaz (2009). In the qualitative dimension, a semi-structured interview form was used to collect data. While 378 teachers participated in the quantitative dimension of the study, 16 teachers participated in the qualitative dimension. According to the findings of the study, it was found that the participating teachers’ level of agreement with the principles of critical pedagogy is low in general. The findings obtained in the qualitative dimension of the current study have revealed that even the teachers positively evaluating the education system in different respects stated that rather than liberating individuals, the education system is an obstacle to their liberation.