Abstract
This chapter explores the critical learning experiences of 12 L.E.A.D. students pursuing a Bachelor of Education. Among all 10 of the Bachelor of Education courses taken by this group of students, the L.E.A.D. course was consistently cited as being one of the most valuable critical learning spaces. The analysis revealed that two main pedagogical approaches were perceived as instrumental to the critical learning experiences taking place in the L.E.A.D. course: 1)Agency opportunities, and 2) the enactment of a legitimate power on behalf of the L.E.A.D. professors. Various aspects of each of these two pedagogical phenomena are discussed in detail. While not a panacea for overcoming the neoliberal policies and practices of higher education, the philosophy and curriculum of L.E.A.D. coalesced with these two pedagogical phenomena and created a space for critical reflection, active listening for understanding, and mutual respect between teacher candidates and critically minded their professors.
TopIntroduction
For decades, public schools have been promoted by some educators and other critics as the ideal place for establishing intellectual and social development for all students, especially for disadvantaged students (Carpenter, Weber, & Schugurensky, 2012; Curtis, Livingstone, & Smaller, 1992; McLaren, 1994). The first few paragraphs of Ontario’s 1990 Education Act emphasize that education systems should provide both “the foundation of a prosperous, caring and civil society” as well as “students with the opportunity to realize their potential and to develop into highly skilled, knowledgeable, caring citizens who contribute to their society” (Government of Ontario, 2016, section 01(1)-(2)). Furthermore, the Education Act highlights the priority of “enhancing student achievement and well-being, closing gaps in student achievement and maintaining confidence in the province’s publicly funded system” (Government of Ontario, 2016, section 01(3)). In the view of these public-school promoters, marginalized students who have access to schools are positioned as having the opportunity to transcend their original oppressive circumstances.
However, as critical pedagogues (such as Apple, 2001; Giroux, 2012; Porfilio & Carr, 2010) and other researchers (such as Basu, 2004; Carpenter et al., 2012; Sattler, 2012) point out, the actual lived experiences of disadvantaged students in public schooling are far from emancipatory (see also Clanfield, 2014). The current ideologies and practices of education systems suppress opportunities that would foster the diverse skills and abilities of students by implementing narrowly focused standard curriculums and enforcing the internalization of this knowledge base by standard testing regimes (Carpenter et al., 2012). Educational policy founded on neoliberal principles prepares students for a world of inequality as they are categorized along with a hierarchical system of grading and streaming (Curtis et al., 1992; Giroux, 2012). Ontario's educational reforms have not lived up to their promise of providing equitable teaching and learning contexts across school boards (Basu, 2012). In light of the lack of equity within schools, examining and exploring issues of social inequity (e.g., classism, racism, and sexism) and its relationship to academic achievement is especially relevant to students and teachers living and working in working-class communities across Canada.
How will local educators respond to both the diverse learning needs of these students and the neoliberal context that has shaped their thinking, decision-making and pedagogical practices? Although certainly no panacea, I argue that providing opportunities for teacher candidates to enroll in L.E.A.D. courses that adopt authentic critical pedagogies is a progressive path to deepening teacher candidate engagement and acknowledging and countering the neoliberal ideology and practices that sustain significant inequities. This chapter demonstrates how the philosophy underpinning the L.E.A.D. course, combined with an authentic form of critical pedagogy, has sparked the “conscious raising” learning experiences that prompt teacher candidates to envision themselves as change agents earnestly working toward a more socially just world (Freire, 1985; Giroux, 1992; Giroux & McLaren, 1994; Morrell, 2013). Before becoming change agents, teacher candidates need a robust understanding of democracy and the collective good. Giroux (1992) argues that teacher educators must provide “the conditions that allow students to reconceptualize themselves as citizens and develop a sense of what it means to fight for important social and political issues that affect their lives, bodies, and society” (p. 31). The critical learning experienced by teacher candidates in the L.E.A.D. course served this very purpose as the professors positioned the “pedagogical as more political” by prompting teacher candidates to consider becoming “agents that enunciate, act, and reflect on themselves, their relations to others, and the wider social order” (Giroux, 2004, p. 499).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Oppression: The social act of placing severe restrictions on an individual, group or institution. The oppressed individual or group is devalued, exploited and deprived of privileges by the individual or group which has more power. Thus, oppression occurs when one social group exploits another for its own benefit. This exploitation may be unconscious or intentional.
Emancipation: The idea that one must be free from imposed societal constraints in order to work towards one’s full human potential.
Dominant Ideology: The normative attitudes, beliefs, and values that are promoted by the ruling class and adopted by the majority of people in a particular society; these pervasive attitudes, beliefs, and values inevitably structure a population’s perceptions of what comes to be understood and accepted as normative, or, the societal status quo.
Teaching for Social Justice: In its attempt to address issues of equity, socially just teaching practices include curriculum, pedagogies, teacher dispositions, and interactional styles that contribute to improving the learning conditions, opportunities, and learning outcomes for all students, including students who belong to groups that are typically underserved in the current educational context.
Transformation: A process of shifting the collective consciousness of a society so that reality is refined by consensus. This process may occur by external stimulus and sometimes intentionally. Societal transformations occur when the newly held values and attitudes are sustained over time and new societal norms are created and internalized.
Social Justice: An ideology and social practice that emphasizes that all individuals and groups should have equal access to the opportunities and goods that are needed to realize their potential. Social justice initiatives respond to unjust circumstances in which essential human rights are limited or denied with no recourse to rule, law, or commonly held societal values. This access may be limited by an individual or group due to a characteristic such as race, class, gender, disability and/or sexual orientation.
Critical Consciousness: A complex educational process of learning that focuses on achieving an in-depth understanding of the world that in turn allows for the perception and exposure of social and political contradictions. It is the intellectual capacity to think holistically and critically about one’s conditions and may lead to the highest development of one’s thought and action.