Teaching Neoliberalism, in the Context of Corporate Reform, in the Undergraduate Social Foundations Classroom

Abstract

This article presents an autoethnographic and theoretical reflection on my justifications for the use of neoliberal deconstruction in the undergraduate social foundations classroom.1 I engage the reader in a discussion concerning the need to make neoliberal agendas, as they pertain to corporate reform in education, salient to students. Further, I argue that cognitive apprenticeship is necessary to “help students map their own dialectics into thinking about their future practice as educators.” I share the integral elements of the cognitive apprenticeship undertaken in the course: “three prongs of foundational thinking,” four key conceptual frames for neoliberal deconstruction and associated foundational readings, and two representative assignments to illustrate the type of scaffolding offered to help education students move past naïve and complacent interpretations of current corporate reforms. My reflections rely on my teaching experience, in-class observations, assessment of students' work, and overarching themes in how students' have responded to the topic.