POE 2003 Conference

The Perspective: Critical Pedagogy and
The Role of Practice

Panel Organizer:
James Fraser, Professor and Dean, School of Education, Northeastern University

Panelists:
Nancy Richardson, Associate Dean, Harvard Divinity School

James Green, Professor of History and Labor Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Sandras Barnes, Independent Academic and Researcher and Member, Grant AME Church

Knowledge Broker: Terry Haywoode, School of Education, Northeastern University

Major Points/ Issues Raised

James Fraser opened the session by framing the discussion with a number of central questions:

• What do we mean by critical pedagogies?
• What definition of critical pedagogy will be useful for the purposes of this discussion?
• How is the work in the field of critical pedagogy relevant to the topic of practice-oriented education?

JAMES FRASER: PAULO FREIRE AND CRITICAL PEDAGOGY

Jim began by noting that however one defines critical pedagogy, its central ideas lead back to the work of the pioneering Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire. Freire's work supplies educators with more questions than answers. Indeed, Freire felt that his methods were strongly associated with the particular social context in which he taught; he advised North Americans to "reinvent Freire in North America."

In some circles, education that is progressive, non-traditional, dialogic or interactive is viewed as "Freirian." However, this term may be diluted and distorted by this usage in such a way that Freire's original intention would be lost. Freire himself warned about this possibility when he said:

      Education for liberation does not
      merely free students from blackboards
      just to offer them projectors. On the
      contrary, it is concerned with helping
      to free human beings from the
      oppression that strangles them in
      objective reality.

If critical pedagogy is not simply a freer and more open approach to teaching, then what is it? Jim suggested that all who are engaged in education need to maintain a perspective of humility. This means that teachers need to approach their classes with humility and that students need to maintain an attitude of humility as they bring what they have learned into the world of practice.

Jim maintained that practice-oriented education is a good approach to learning. The dialectic of practice and reflection prepares people well for various professions and occupations. On the other hand, professional preparation not grounded in critical pedagogy may produce a group of well-trained professionals who, while technically proficient, do not respect and value their interactions with co-workers. From the perspective of critical pedagogy, the danger of practice-oriented education is that students will learn the "tricks of the trade," without examining the moral implications of their practices. In contrast, critical pedagogy affirms the central importance of our common humanity as opposed to distinctions based on professional skills or titles.

The emphasis on what human beings have in common rather than how they are different opens up the possibility of true dialogue in which all participants can engage freely with others. This, of course, was one of the foundations of Freire's approach. When Freire taught, he invited his adult students, with no previous education, into a conversation of equals.

Jim's second defining characteristic of critical pedagogy is the acknowledgement of power relationships. Education does not occur in a vacuum, but in a social order defined by inequalities of power. Acknowledging these inequalities and addressing the issues they raise is part of critical pedagogy. While the teacher should not impose his or her own views, the teacher should not be silent. Instead, teachers need to enter into an engaged dialogue to help students find their humanity and power. Jim quoted Freire:

     It is not sufficient to give lip service
     to the idea that men and women
     are human beings if nothing is done
     objectively to help them experience
     what it means to be persons.

NANCY RICHARDSON: CRITICAL PEDAGOGY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO LIBERATION THEOLOGY

Dr. Nancy Richardson, the Associate Dean of the Harvard Divinity School, teaches a course on liberation theology that is grounded in both the works of Paulo Freire and an appreciation of what she terms feminist ethics. Since her students are future members of the clergy rather than future educators, her approach to critical pedagogy emphasizes social justice and moral agency.

For Nancy, the beginning of moral agency is the ability to connect one's own individual pain to the pain of the world. This concept takes the notion of engagement to a deeper level. She sees the role of future clergy members as intentional moral agents who press for justice in the world. As leaders of religious communities and other institutions, their task will be to engage people's common humanity by "facilitating the moral agency of others."

Nancy tied critical pedagogy to liberation theology by critically examining the process of educating future members of the clergy. In this type of education, it is important to eschew what Freire critiqued as the "banking" method of education and instead set up a process in which students do not simply learn about liberating education, but learn through a liberating process. For this reason, classes begin with a discussion of what the students wish to accomplish and the themes, problems, concerns, and issues that engage them.

In Nancy's classes, students form collaborative groups around common themes. Each group creates a learning agreement to help them work cooperatively and efficiently. It is important to avoid creating a competitive atmosphere, which would undermine the possibility of cooperation. Students take responsibility for their own learning groups and shared work, while acknowledging that working in groups can present problems.

Nancy emphasized that students will not become a force for liberation in the lives of others unless they themselves have had the experience of creating and functioning in a liberating social situation. They need to experience liberation while they learn about liberation theology. Thus, the learning groups created in the class can be seen as a form of practice-oriented education. Students learn to strike a balance to create effective ways of interacting with each other and the class as a whole.

JAMES GREEN: POPULAR HISTORY AND CRITICAL PEDAGOGY

Dr. James Green is a historian who teaches in the College of Public and Community Service, a unique program at the University of Massachusetts Boston campus for people working in the field. The curriculum combines classical liberal arts with themes that emerge from community service. James believes that history is particularly critical because it allows people to locate themselves in time. By understanding the workings of human agency in the past, students gain insight into how decisions and actions occur in the present.

Viewed from a grassroots perspective, history may be perceived as the stories of how people create and experience events, rather than as facts and dates in books. James suggests that people can gain an independent understanding of history through seeking out those who tell the stories of various events. When students take this approach as their common project, they form communities of inquiry in the classroom. By unraveling the seemingly completed tapestry of the past to reveal the lived experience of human actors, students may find a safe space to think critically about the present.

James uses what he terms the master narrative of the labor movement as an example. He and his students ask: What happens to working people? Did and do they have choices? Can they choose whether to cooperate or compete with each other? Can they resist powerful forces, or must they accommodate to them? Can they organize unions? James believes that by posing problems about the past, students take history to heart and can see the possibility of making choices in the present.

James also saw the relationship between his approach and practice-oriented education through activities that ordinary people create to tell their own history. One example is a project called A People's History of Boston. In this project, students design walking tours that present the history of the city from the perspective of ordinary citizens. In another project called My Town, neighborhood and town residents study the history of their own communities in order to understand their present circumstances. James believes that a central element of Freire's approach is to give people back their own history as a starting point for what Freire termed "The Pedagogy of Hope."

SANDRAS BARNES: CRITICAL PEDAGOGY IN CLASSROOM AND COMMUNITY

Dr. Sandras Barnes participated in the panel both as a practicing academic with experience in the classroom and as a grassroots organizer with a wealth of community experience. She described a classroom experience in which a student had responded emotionally to a casual remark that Sandras had made in a class. The student was angry and hurt, although no negative impact was intended. Sandras reminded us that people enter the classroom as whole persons and not just as students. They bring their whole life experience with them and this experience becomes part of what happens in the classroom. In the case under discussion, it was a student's ethnic identity that was in question.

In ordinary classrooms, such an emotional response might be considered inappropriate. Students would be expected to respond to the material only from an intellectual stance. However, Sandras realized that if the misunderstanding were allowed to stand, it would change the tenor of the class, not just for the individual in question, but perhaps for the class as a whole. For this reason, she made several attempts to communicate with the student until she was satisfied that the student understood her true intention.

Sandras used this example of classroom practice to tie together and illustrate some of the ideas expressed by the previous speakers. First of all, she noted that students and teachers learn together in the classroom. In the incident described, she came to understand the reason for the student's response. She and the student considered how the original remark and response were related to the student's individual history and the history of her ethnic group. To fully understand this brief but telling interaction, the student had to locate herself in history.

Secondly, Sandras talked about the pain of people from different communities. From a Freirian perspective, students such as this one must face their own pain and their instructors must acknowledge it as well, if they wish to teach in the community. The essence of the Freirian classroom is what Freire termed the dialogue. In order to sustain this dialogue, students need to be engaged as whole persons.

Important Themes

• What defines teaching as critical pedagogy and how can critical pedagogy be distinguished from an educational approach that, while creative or innovative, has no social justice context?
• How can critical teachers communicate to their students that getting a degree is not the sole end of their education?
• How can critical teachers be respectful to students and open to all points of view while still being engaged in their own commitment to social justice?
• How can teachers make clear that there are many things they do not know and that they, too, learn through the process that occurs in the classroom?
• What strategies help empower students to learn their own history, interpret events and, become the tellers of their own stories?
• How can practitioners of critical pedagogy and their students achieve a balance between the humility of a learner and the passion of a person committed to social justice?
• How can critical teachers encourage students to use their education as a way to question, rather than as a way to fit into established institutions?
• Does critical pedagogy lead individuals to a commitment to social justice and encourage the rise of social movements? Should that be its goal? Is social justice work the practice-oriented element of critical pedagogy?

Additional Commentary

1. What is critical pedagogy?
All of the presenters and the audience approached the topic of critical pedagogy from different points of view grounded in their own disciplines and experience. However, there were some areas of consensus. Consistent with Freire, critical pedagogy starts with the perspective of the oppressed. The idea of working for social justice informs all critical pedagogy. However, while middle-class teachers can be allies, they must be careful not to take over the social movements and usurp people's growing capacity to exercise leadership.

2. What does the critical classroom look like?
Critical pedagogy is associated with certain classroom approaches. A critical classroom should be a safe space for thoughtful engagement. In this setting, students are empowered to take responsibility for their own learning, create learning goals for themselves, and work collaboratively to achieve those goals. These collaborative groups can become communities of inquiry whose goals are shaped by a continuing process of problem posing. Students must look at the conventional narrative that explains the world through a problem-posing perspective and question assumed knowledge. This process opens up space for new possibilities.

3. How does critical pedagogy affect the relationship between teachers and students?
In critical pedagogy, teachers do not relinquish their authority, but they exercise it respectfully and with humility. Students and teachers may collaborate to create projects in which they learn together. A goal of critical pedagogy is to encourage people to understand themselves as intentional moral agents who can make choices and have the possibility of acting affirmatively to promote social justice. They also develop the ability to foster the moral agency of others. Working against oppression and for social justice is the "practice" of critical pedagogy.

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