Critical Pedagogy Theory Research Articles

“No One Wants to Believe It”: Manifestations of White Privilege in a STEM-Focused College

The lagging behind of underrepresented minority (URM) students in higher education, and particularly in the STEM fields, is well documented. In this paper we draw on critical race theory in education to frame and present counter-narratives of URM students in STEM fields, to explicate the function of the interactions that occur between these students and their (mostly White) instructors and peers. Focus group interviews with URM students (and staff) at a STEM focused college identify three ways in which White privilege is enacted through these interactions: in group projects; in cheating accusations; and in the grading process. Our participants illuminate particular manifestations of White privilege in STEM classrooms and on campus, and we place these within the context of “colorblind” changes in higher education in the U.S.

Photo-monologues and photo-dialogues from the family album: Arab and Jewish students talk about belonging, uprooting and migration

ABSTRACTThis article analyses two concepts that merge critical educational theory and practice: photo-monologue and photo-dialogue, based on a workshop of Arab and Jewish students in Israel focused on family albums. The photo-monologue consists of a photograph and a quote by or in the name of a person seen in the photograph. The photo-dialogue is a group discussion of photo-monologues. All photo-monologues created by the students and the author, who facilitated the workshop, included the themes of belonging, uprooting and migration shared by both Jews and Arabs in Israel in ways insufficiently addressed in scholarly or daily discourse. The photo-monologues were discussed from a critical pedagogy approach, which stresses acknowledgment of cultural and historical differences and silenced personal-political hi/stories, as well as creating new knowledge through student-student and student-teacher dialogue. This knowledge is both factually and qualitatively different from that provided by the official curriculum, giving collective voice to traumatic family histories and offering the potential of building trust and bringing students of diverse origins closer together. Based on insights from these discussions, the article proposes the photo-monologue and photo-dialogue as vehicles for broader critical educational discourse that merges the personal and the political, particularly in complex socio-political contexts like Israel.

Considering Antiracism in Student Teacher Placement

Student teaching represents the culmination of a preservice music educator’s preparation. In student teaching, notions of the transformative potential of music education may be reinforced or subverted. The placement of student teachers, an underresearched process in music teacher education, may be a space where teacher educators can work toward racial justice. In this article, I explore critical antiracist theory in music teacher education in two fictionalized vignettes. I apply an antiracist lens to the process of student teacher placement to suggest ways to interrogate problematic policies and practices. Avenues for antiracist praxis include (a) naming the racialized nature of an institution’s professional network, (b) mapping the racial landscapes of prospective placements, (c) addressing issues of representation in student teacher placement, and (d) becoming race-power conscious. Through this article, I illustrate how antiracist theory might guide music teacher education toward social action by addressing issues related to racism, racial representation, and school segregation.

Manifestasi Pendidikan Kritis di Sekolah Alam Bangka Belitung, Kota Pangkalpinang

In industry 4.0, the education has been developing significantly. The current developing and mainstream education uses a standard-based national curriculum framework. However, nowadays it has established the new style of education as an alternative education in maintaining the balance with the existed mainstream education. Bangka Belitung Nature School is one of them which is located in Pangkalpinang City. The study aims to identify the educational learning systems in Bangka Belitung Nature School.Qualitative descriptive method was employed by analyzing the critical educational theory of Paulo Freire. The study found that the educational learning systems of Bangka Belitung Nature School were one of the alternative education which was different with the mainstream one. The educational patterns of Bangka Belitung Nature School applied the posed-problem method whereby it used the student-centered learning. Thus, the pupils in the Bangka Belitung Nature School were expected to be creative, innovative and critical in facing the social phenomena.

The one-in-ten: quantitative Critical Race Theory and the education of the ‘new (white) oppressed’

ABSTRACTThis paper challenges the notion that quantitative data – as a numeric truth – exist independent of a nation’s political and racial landscape. Utilising large-scale national attainment data, the analysis challenges the belief that ‘White working class’ children in England, especially boys, are ‘the new oppressed’ – as a former equality adviser has publicly claimed. The analysis applies Quantitative Critical Race Theory, or ‘QuantCrit’, an emerging quantitative sub-field of Critical Race Theory in education. The paper argues that far from being ‘oppressed’, White boys continue to enjoy achievement advantages over numerous minoritised groups; especially their peers of Black Caribbean ethnic origin. Additionally, the analysis uniquely exposes racialised trends of ‘equivalency’ in core subject qualifications, whereby minority ethnic children are over-represented in certain lower-status qualifications that are counted as equivalent in education statistics but not in the real world labour market. The analysis concludes that knowing misrepresentations of quantitative data are at the heart of an institutional process through which race and racism are produced, legitimised and perpetuated in education.

Education for development in the context of various theoretical approaches within educational sciences

The concept of education for development has been – next to other educational concepts – subject to many attempts of redefinition, which are often determined by different pragmatic and ideological postulates. Therefore, it is possible that this highly important concept is partially becoming its own antithesis. That is why the paper analyses education for development through different theoretical approaches which have been established during the course of development of educational sciences. In this way, education for development is seen through basic tenets of Normative Educational Sciences, Empirical Educational Sciences, Humanistic-Scientific Pedagogy, Critical Educational Sciences and Systems Theory. In addition to this, integrated pedagogical review of education for development is observed through confluent education theory. Within this theory, the concept of education for development is based on education as a human (individual) need, and only after that education as social need.

Fighting words as revolutionary pedagogy: a Freirean reading of young people’s experiences of a socially-engaged creative writing centre

ABSTRACTThe present climate of standardisation and quantification compels schools to deliver outcome-based curricula that measure educational success in terms of academic attainment and students’ ‘ability’ to perform according to set criteria. Efforts to tackle educational inequality encourage conformity rather than address the underlying issues of the varied economic, cultural and social capital of diverse populations. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s theory of critical pedagogy, this paper examines the impact of a Freirean-inspired Dublin-based participatory arts initiative on youth from lower socio-economic backgrounds in Ireland. Focusing on the Freirean concepts of dialogue, democratic relations, voice, creativity and imagination, the authors present a case study of Fighting Words Creative Writing Centre, a socially-engaged participatory arts organisation currently operating in the non-formal education sector in Ireland. The research, a qualitative study conducted over a 12-month period, presents data gathered from participants and other key stakeholders through interviews and questionnaires. The findings indicate that participants in Fighting Words demonstrate increased levels of engagement and motivation, improved confidence and self-esteem, recognition of and pride in creative ability, a stronger sense of self, a greater ability to work collaboratively, and improved literacy.

Sexuality as movement

In this article, I rethink the key arguments of my co-authored paper Teaching Pleasure and Danger in Sexuality Education (Author and Co, 2013) by bringing the postmodern logic of critical sexuality education theory into conversation with the relational ontology of new materialism. I begin by rejecting the key problem presented in Author and Co’s (2013) paper as a false problem. This false problem is the drawing of an ‘unqualified line’ between positive and negative sexual experience in sexuality education. Instead, I argue that the actual problem is the initial act of drawing a line to separate sexual experience into a binary. My modification of the problem is an ontological move that allows me to consider sexuality education outside the binaries of negative and positive experience. Elaborating on the ontology problem presented in my paper Teaching Pleasure and Danger in Sexuality Education, I explain new materialism and its key task of realizing the interdependence of dualist terms. Drawing on Bergson and Braidotti’s philosophies of difference, I argue that pushing for sex-positive sexuality education strengthens the sex-negativity in sexuality education. I further critique the logic of negation that structures sexuality education by interrogating the contemporary push for pleasure-based sexuality education. Through this process of rethinking my previous scholarship through new materialist logic, I begin the task of reconfiguring the phallogocentric sexual subject as a subject-in-the-process. The conclusion of this article offers a beginning consideration of sexuality as an act of becoming where forces brought into relationship are entangled, creating a new thing.

A FORMAÇÃO DO PEDAGOGO PARA O ENSINO DE GEOGRAFIA NOS ANOS INICIAIS DO ENSINO FUNDAMENTAL

O artigo apresenta a pesquisa em desenvolvimento, no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia, nível de Doutorado, na linha de Educação e ensino de Geografia, na Unioeste. Tem como foco principal a formação do pedagogo para o ensino de Geografia nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental, no curso de Pedagogia. A problemática que emerge é “qual a formação do pedagogo em Geografia e como este contexto formativo possibilita conhecimentos para ensinar os conteúdos para as crianças pequenas?” A pesquisa se caracteriza como estudo de caso, pretende analisar a formação do pedagogo em Geografia. Os dados coletados serão analisados a partir das categorias formuladas ao longo da pesquisa, à luz da teoria crítica da educação.

Race and the politics of educational exclusion: explaining the persistence of disproportionate disciplinary practices in an urban school district

ABSTRACTEducational research has established a link between zero tolerance disciplinary policies and increases in racial disproportionality in suspensions and expulsions of students of color. This article reports on a critical ethnography of Rivertown, a school district with urban characteristics, where we have been working with parents of color whose children are subjected to exclusionary discipline. Using the framework of Critical Race Theory in education, specifically Derrick Bell's interest-convergence principle, we argue that several interrelated barriers prevent movement toward racial equity: a culture of colorblindness and white fragility that silences race talk; contested definitions of the problem that obfuscate its racialized nature; and the persistence of a zero tolerance framework even with the implementation of a restorative justice pilot. We conclude by discussing our ongoing strategies for creating interest-convergence between White power-holders and communities of color in Rivertown.

Interpellation, Counterinterpellation, and Education

In a recent essay in Rethinking Marxism, as part of a special issue on the legacy of Louis Althusser’s thinking, Tyson E. Lewis takes up Althusser’s thinking on schooling, trade unionism, and seminars to delimit the concepts of interpellation, counterinterpellation, and disinterpellation respectively. While Lewis’s work is a crucial first step for understanding the little-known contours of Althusserian pedagogical theory, he does not elaborate key theoretical work done on the concept of counterinterpellation, namely that of the Marxist philosopher of language Jean-Jacques Lercecle. Engaging with Lecercle’s work deepens Lewis’s novel argument around the newly-coined term disinterpellation, which he distinguishes as fundamentally educational, as opposed to interpellation and counterinterpellation, which he calls forms of political activism. If one considers Lecercle’s derivation of the concept, Lewis’s characterization of disinterpellation as educational and counterinterpellation as political activism changes somewhat, and broaches fundamental questions for Marxist educational theory. In this essay - which is a comment on Lewis’s important step towards Althusserian pedagogical theory - I will present Lecercle’s account of counterinterpellation, setting this concept within the larger context of Althusserian philosophy. I then respond to the equivalence Lewis draws between counterinterpellation and interpellation to advocate disinterpellation as a model for Marxist educational theory and practice, a move which poses two important questions for critical educational theory in the Marxist tradition: Is there a forceless force within what both Gramsci and Althusser called balance of forces of the political terrain, and must education be that forceless force? I show these questions and their implications have important theoretical consequences for Marxist educational theory and practice in general, and the specific theory and practice Lewis advocates.

Pushing the Line: Teaching Suburban Seventh Graders to be Critically Conscious through Historical Inquiry and Civic Letter-Writing

Engaging in critical teaching with non-marginalized suburban middle school students is both challenging and necessary in the Age of Trumpism. In this paper, I explain the constraints on critical educators teaching in an affluent, suburban public school setting as well as the possibilities for working within this system to increase students’ critical consciousness. In the inquiry-based learning project I describe, I combine critical pedagogy theory with historical literacy pedagogy in order to enable seventh grade students in a world history course to critique current problems in the United States under Trump through the comparative analysis of different historical and modern sources and action-based letter-writing to the president. I include an overview an explanation of the school setting and culture, a rationale for and summary of the lessons within the inquiry project, a description of the class discussions, and excerpts from students’ letters and reflections revealing their thinking.

Enseñar como un “acto de amor” con métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje no tradicionales en los entornos virtuales

En el siguiente ensayo se aborda el concepto de “enseñar como un acto de amor” en los espacios virtuales. Trata sobre algunos métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje no tradicionales y la incorporación de estos en los cursos virtuales que se ofrecen en las instituciones de educación superior. El objetivo es ayudar a los maestros y maestras a crear ambientes virtuales más efectivos utilizando métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje no tradicionales que a su vez promuevan el enseñar como un “acto de amor”. Enseñar como “un acto de amor” implica que los maestros y las maestras incorporaran estos métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje no tradicionales en los entornos virtuales, donde enfocan sus esfuerzos hacia el conocer su estudiantado y las necesidades de este mismo. Para entender estos métodos y su adaptación a los espacios virtuales se discutirán las teorías crítica y constructivista de la educación adaptándolas a los ambientes o entornos virtuales. Entre los métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje no tradicionales que se mencionan en el ensayo están: el aprendizaje por asociación de experiencias, el aprendizaje por descubrimiento, el aprendizaje constructivista y el aprendizaje cooperativo entre otros.

Disrupting an imposed racial identity or performing the model minority? The pursuit of postsecondary education by young African immigrant men in Southern Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT This article examines how young African immigrant men in Southern Ontario cope with the dominant racial identity at school in an effort to improve their academic performance and access postsecondary education (PSE). Critical race theory in education is employed to explain how the young men distance themselves from stereotypes about Black masculinity by regulating their own behaviour and differentiating themselves from their Caribbean immigrant peers. Sixty-seven young men who had immigrated to Southern Ontario from several African countries over the last 10 years were interviewed individually and in focus groups for the study. The findings suggest that the research participants adopted a model minority status within an educational system that clearly embodies racist and systemically oppressive frameworks.

Marx und die Pädagogik

Marx and Pedagogy Marx first theory of education was written in his Thesis on Feuerbach. His later positive proposals were sources of the official pedagogy of the DDR, while his analyses of ›Kapital‹ contributed to a critical economic theory of ›human capital‹. But only the ›freudomarxism‹ of the Critical Theory and especially of Siegfried Bernfeld contributed to a critical theory of education. After all was Marx the founder of a revolutionary theory of ›Bildung‹.

Teacher Group Formation as Emancipatory Critique: Necessary Conditions for Teacher Resistance

One of the essential problems of critical social theory in education has been the inability by critical ethnographers to practicalize the heavy theoretical formulations of resistance theory. This naturalistic case study situates a group of four middle school teachers acting both individually and collectively in an attempt to undermine the contradiction between the individual and group concepts. It is argued that, through institutional and cultural political resistant acts, teachers can build an intersubjective, group understanding that potentially opposes dominant ideological propensities. My proposal is that teachers realize their group identity and use this to form a normative stance on cultural issues at the school site.

A Study on Characteristics and Actuality of Heydorn’s “Critical Education Theory”

본 논문은 국내외 교육학계에서 주변화한 독일 교육학자 하이돈의 교육사상을 정리하고 이 이론의 성격과 현재성을 고찰하는 데 목적을 두었다. 이를 위해 맨 먼저 파시즘의 폭력 체계를 경험한 하이돈의 생애를 살펴보았다. 이때 그의 활발한 정치적 활동과 교육적 실천을 알 수 있고, 60년대 말 독일 교육개혁 담론에 대한 비판에서 그의 교육(Bildung) 개념의 역사적·변증법적 이해를 파악할 수 있었다. 하이돈이 주장하는 “교육과 지배의 모순”의 테제는 해방과 종속의 모순이 교육 자체에 내재하고 있다는 것을 뜻하고, 이것은 지배 관계가 교육을 통해 성립하고, 거꾸로 교육은 사회적 요구에 종속되고 있음을 강조하는 것으로 이해할 수 있다. 그러나 교육은 각 개인으로 하여금 지배 상황을 깨뜨릴 수 있는 계기를 제공하고 있다. 하이돈이 사망한 후 그의 이론을 계승하여 급진적으로 발전시킨 코네프케는 시민 사회와 교육학의 변증법적 관계에 주목하였다. 그에 의하면, 시민 사회에서 교육학은 개인들의 자립을 강조하면서 사회 체제로의 편입을 수행하지만, 동시에 바로 그러한 자율성이 사회적 요구에 반대하는, 즉 저항을 가능하게 한다는 것이다. 이렇게 보면, 교육학자 및 교육실천가는 교육(학)을 항상 사회적 조건과 연관시켜서 파악하고, 인간화를 위한 교육(학)의 책임을 자각할 필요가 있다. 하이돈의 비판적 교육이론은 후세대학자들이 오늘날 새롭게 변화하고 있는 사회적 상황에 직면하여 발생하는 상이한 교육문제(독일의 교육개혁, 통제사회에서 주체성의 문제, 인종주의, 반유대주의, 비판과 해방의 가능성 등)를 고찰하는 데 교육과 지배의 모순테제를 자신의 연구의 출발점으로 삼고 있다는 점에서 그 현재성을 인식할 수 있다. 결론적으로 이 논문은 교육을 통해 모든 사람을 행복하게 하려는 시도가 실패할 수 있다는 것을 인식하고 그러한 실패를 반성적으로 성찰하는 교육학의 부단한 자기비판 속에 해방적 가능성을 찾을 수 있다는 것을 보여 주고자 한다.This thesis will examine German pedagogist Heydorn’s thoughts on education and his influence on the field of education, both in the domestic and international spheres, and will aim to consider the nature of pedagogy based on his theory. First, I examined Heydorn’s life, including his experiences with the violent system of fascism. Heydorn’s animated political activities and educational practices were clarified during this research process. I was able to grasp his historical and dialectical comprehension of education from his criticism of the discourse on educational reform in Germany in the late 1960s. Heydorn’s essay “On the Contradiction between Education and Power” implies that the contradiction between liberation and subordination is inherent in education itself, domination comes into existence through education, and that education is becoming subordinate to social demands. However, education provides individuals with the opportunity to destroy dominating circumstances. Gernot Koneffke pointed out that pedagogy stresses the independence and maturity of individuals in a civil society while attempting to incorporate a social system. Simultaneously, he noted that such autonomy led to an opposition to social demands and made resistance possible. In that sense, there would be a constant need for pedagogists and education practitioners to make a connection between social conditions and education and pedagogy and to gain awareness of the responsibilities of pedagogy for humanization. Subsequent scholars of the critical education theory are conducting studies on the contradiction between education and power with regard to educational problems (the education reform in Germany, problems of subjectivity in a controlled society, racism, antisemitism, the possibility of criticism and liberation, etc.) in today’s changing social context. In conclusion, this thesis aims to raise awareness of the fact that endeavors to make everyone happy through education can fail, and yet, such failure can lead to the discovery of a possibility for liberation that may be reflective of failure in the midst of constant self-criticism in pedagogy.

Critical Race Theory in Education: Where Farce Meets Tragedy

Critical Race Theory in Education: Where Farce Meets Tragedy

Achieving the Dream, Uncertain Futures: The Postbaccalaureate Decision-Making Process of Latinx Undocumented Students

This qualitative study examined the decision-making process of undocumented college students pursuing graduate degrees, and how their commitment to matriculate in higher education programs is shaped by a myriad of social, familial, financial, and institutional factors. This study drew on 2 years of ethnographic data from a sample of 20 undocumented graduate students. The authors used critical race theory and LatCrit in education as guiding frameworks. The findings revealed that family marginalization, guided pathways, and social activism inform student decisions to pursue graduate school. The article concluded with a discussion of implications and areas of future research on undocumented students pursuing a graduate education in a DACA context.

COMMUNITY EDUCATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMUNITY

Community education is a sustainable process in the community, built with awareness and sustained participation, in an effort to build a new understanding and concept to improve the quality of life of the community itself. Community education is now moving back into building and developing societies with the same approach as the hundreds and centuries-old approach to the prosperity of society. With the right theoretical framework, the right approach and the right program implementation models, community education can grow and develop into a power in education to build a better Indonesian society. Critical pedagogical theory and so forth is the main foundation in the development of concepts and subsequent thoughts related to public education.