CRITICAL PEDAGOGY: A PARADIGM THAT CROSSES THE CLASSROOM BOUNDARIES

M. Claudia Nieto

mcnietoc@unal.edu.co

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 4

Noviembre de 2003

Critical pedagogy is a way of thinking, of negotiating, of transforming the relationships among the teaching provided in the classroom, the production of knowledge, the school institutional structures, and the social and material relationships with the community, the society, and the country. (McLaren, P. 1998, Life in Schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of education. (3rd ed). NY: Longman)

Then critical pedagogy can be understood as a way of analysing society, particularly from the relationship between school and society. The axe this type of pedagogy revolves around is the understanding and transformation of the handling of power in the teaching-learning context. Its ultimate goal is the elimination of the oppression created in the classroom by facts such as race, gender, social class, and so on by empowering teachers and students to behave and share through tolerance, respect for the difference and the possibility of having voice.

The social construction of knowledge

The knowledge we acquire at school is never neutral or objective; it is ordered and structured in particular forms. It is a social construction deeply rooted in power relationships. Critical pedagogy theorists assert that knowledge is socially built because it is the product of an agreement among the individuals who live particular social relationships in a determined time period. The problem lies in that some forms of knowledge have more power and legitimacy than others.

Kinds of knowledge

1. Technical or productive knowledge is measured and quantified, used in the natural sciences. It is given in units, for example IC scores.

2. Practical knowledge seeks to illuminate individuals to model their daily actions in the world. It can be acquired through the description

and analysis of certain situations.

3. Emancipatory knowledge- intends to reconcile and transcend the opposition existent between the above mentioned methods. This is the kind of knowledge Critical Pedagogy aims at. The knowledge that does not seek to go further than the pure and objective observation of the world only reassures what already exists.  Critical knowledge mixes theory and practice and contributes to the transformation of existent social relationships.

Critical Pedagogy and the curriculum

From the critical pedagogy educational theorists' point of view the curriculum represents much more than a program of studies or a text. On the contrary, it represents a particular way of life; it serves to prepare students to dominant or subordinate positions in the existent society. Critical pedagogy has the objective of preparing students to have an impact in their immediate surroundings by provoking changes in benefit of themselves, their immediate circle of influence and consequently in society.