Pedagogy Without Humanism: Foucault and the Subject of Education

Education is commonly understood as an interaction between subjects; an interaction between the educator, who already is a subject, and the child, who has to become a subject by means of the pedagogical activities of the educator. Postmodernism has seriously challenged the common (modern) understanding of human subjectivity. The question therefore is what his challenge entails for our understanding of the process of education.In this paper this question is taken up in the context of a distinction between two conceptions of education: education as manipulation and education as communication. It is argued that the manipulative conception is closely related to the modern understanding of human subjectivity, as is the critique leveled against the communicative conception. In order to find out whether the postmodern "deconstruction" of the modern understanding of human subjectivity opens up new possibilities for a communicative understanding of education, Foucault's analysis of the emergence and subversion of the modern conception of man is presented and discussed.Although Foucault's work points into the direction of the recognition of the primacy of the intersubjective - and in this sense supports a communicative understanding of education - his deconstruction also makes clear that intersubjectivity cannot be understood as a new deep truth about man. This means that pedagogy has to do without humanism. The paper concludes with some reflections on such a pedagogy without humanism.     

A critical pedagogy of place: from gridlock to parallax 1

Differences of perspective, standpoint and subjectivity can help to enlarge the conceptual landscape of environmental education theory. Rejections of difference, on the other hand, can become an intolerance that narrows the scope of inquiry. This rejoinder argues that Bowers’ repeated rejections of critical pedagogy are based on a partial reading of the critical tradition, and that these critiques, including his current call to ‘avoid embracing’ a critical pedagogy of place, are unnecessarily dismissive and therefore counterproductive. Environmental education has benefited and will continue to benefit from the critical tradition of which critical pedagogy is a part. Relationships and/or antagonisms are constructed through human responses and interactions. Sameshima’s pedagogical theory of parallax is introduced as a way of seeing relationships between ideas that have been thought to be opposed. Moving toward relationship rather than rivalry, the rejoinder concludes by suggesting that Bowers’ and Freire’s criticality is actually more alike than different.     

Critical Voyages: Postmodern feminist pedagogies as liberatory practice

Critical postmodern feminist theory as a pedagogical tool acknowledges differences and organizes people to create social change. Connections between feminism, critical theory, and postmodernism are discussed in relationship to possible pedagogical directions for schools and other community organizations. The authors outline six guiding principles of a critical postmodern feminist pedagogy including: students' experiences as central to teaching and learning; provisions for safe spaces in the development of students' voices; the revision of centers and margins to understand power and agency; the recognition of difference as central to the reconfiguration of existing social boundaries; the development of a language of critique and possibility; and the evolution of teachers as intellectuals. Finally, the authors highlight, in detail, two curriculum projects based in schools that exemplify these principles, a middle school forum for girls that addresses issues of sexual violence in rural Pennsylvania, USA and a high school class for pregnant and parenting teen mothers in Las Vegas, NV.     

Feminist pedagogy and feminist epistemology: an overview

This article offers an overview of the field of feminist education, epistemology and pedagogy. It examines the variety of streams of feminist thought in these areas including socialist, radical, cultural, liberal and postmodern feminisms. In doing so, it engages with some of the most influential writings in the field from the last 12 years and looks at the relationship between feminist education, feminism as a whole, and poststructuralist social theory and postmodernism. The article goes on to discuss epistemology and Foucauldian notions of knowledge and power hierarchies and asks whether feminism accepts notions of ontology in relation to women. In the final section, feminist pedagogy is discussed in relation to other streams of critical or radical pedagogy; is Women's Studies in universities the most productive place to devote feminist energy to? Can Women's Studies be considered part of radical education when it necessarily operates within an institution which arguably operates to ‘domesticate’ women and valorizes traditional, or patriarchal, epistemology? It concludes by exploring an educational environment, or methodology, which has the potential to be more productive for both students and educators interested in the liberatory possibilities of education.     

Military Education Reconsidered: A Postmodern Update

It is commonly accepted that the nature of military operations is one of such character that no matter how well you prepare there will still be an expectation of having to deal with the unknown and unforeseen. Accordingly, there seem to be reasons for arguing that preparations for the unpredictable should play a critical role in military education. Yet, military education as we know it seems to be characterized by a rather classic modernist view on education, which promotes an environment of learning that embraces uniformity and enhances scenario based pre‐planned drills as ways of conducting military operations. In this paper I will argue an alternative perspective, one that embraces difference rather than uniformity as a means of developing military units and their soldiers. In doing so I will ground my argument in the academic discourse on postmodern education. It is my understanding that educational practices prone to postmodern thinking are embedded in narratives sensitive to constructivism, complexity and contextualism , and thus use emancipation, deconstruction, vocabulary, dialogue, diversity and aesthetics as pedagogical strategies in their creation of ‘new’ meaning. A discussion of these strategies in relation to the topic of ‘the unpredictable’ constitutes the main body of this paper.     

Critical pedagogy and emotion: working through ‘troubled knowledge’ in posttraumatic contexts

This article critiques some of the existing literature in critical pedagogy and the way it tends to overlook or downplay the strong emotional investments of troubled knowledge in posttraumatic situations. Examining existing literature in critical pedagogy reiterates the argument that the discourse of critical pedagogy constructs and sustains its own disciplinary affects. This article builds further on this argument and highlights the importance of foregrounding rather than backgrounding the complexity of difficult emotional knowledge and its pedagogical implications. Working from the assumption that critical pedagogy, especially in the context of posttraumatic societies, must engage this terrain of difficult emotional knowledge in ways that have not been sufficiently addressed by the current rhetoric of critical pedagogy, I look to work that gestures toward a discourse of critical pedagogy which considers troubled knowledge as a source of fruitful and responsive learning. As it will be emphasized, this argument entails making pedagogical space for understanding troubled knowledge in more nuanced terms. This task requires a constant reconsideration of new pedagogical resources to enhance the potential of critical pedagogy; this article discusses three such resources: the significance of pedagogic discomfort, the pedagogical principle of mutual vulnerability, and the value of compassion and strategic empathy.     

Mindfulness In,As and Of Education: Three Roles of Mindfulness in Education

Following the exponential rise in publications on mindfulness in education and the emergence of some critical perspectives on this field, this paper articulates three roles of mindfulness practice in education: Mindfulness in, as and of education. The three are developed based on an examination of the practice as it is shaped by two different socio‐historical narratives, which in turn manifest in different modalities of implementation and aims in the contemporary educational field. While much of the field is governed by ‘mindfulness in education’ within economic‐therapeutic interventions, equal attention is given to ‘mindfulness as education’ as reflected in a whole school approach and to ‘mindfulness of education’ in which the practice radicalises the ethos of critical pedagogy. Describing these three roles, the paper introduces readers to the practice itself, offers a framework for understanding its associations with a variety of educational aims, and critically discusses these associations as well as the diverse pedagogical possibilities that this practice brings to contemporary and future education.     

Activating Built Pedagogy: A genealogical exploration of educational space at the University of Auckland Epsom Campus and Business School

Abstract

Inspired by a new teaching initiative that involved a redesign of conventional classroom spaces at the University of Auckland’s Epsom Campus, this article considers the relationship between architecture, the built environment and education. It characterises the teaching space of the Epsom Campus as the embodiment of educational policy following its inception in the early 1970s. Heralded as a modernist work of architecture juxtaposing material and textural combinations, the Epsom Campus emerged as a metaphorical vanguard of teaching pedagogy that stood as a symbol of a more progressive and culturally inclusive style of education. With consideration for a different kind of architectural space and pedagogy at the city-based business school, the article extends an understanding of spatiality and learning, and argues the structural architectonics of the teaching space and the built environment confer their own pedagogical value. By drawing on the critical stance of Nietzsche’s genealogical methodology for reading history, strands of historical discourse and ‘vibrant materialities’ are considered so that the ‘built pedagogy’ of both contexts can be activated and explored.     

后殖民主义与批判教育学: 教育的目标在于培养批判精神

从20世纪60年代发展起来的批判教育学的主要精神在于把学生培养成为具有批判精神的独立的政治主体。后殖民理论研究由于揭露了帝国主义文化霸权的实质、重新论述边缘与中心的关系而为批判教育学的研究提供了理论框架。以此框架为基础,批判教育学发展出一系列的原则,如教育应当与政治相联系,理性与知识的概念需要重新解释,教育学需要通过打破学科界限来创造新的知识,差异与伦理在教育学中应得到特别关注,等等。这些原则的核心目标是培养学生的批判精神,使其能更好地服务于民主的社会。     

Multicultural Education From a Pedagogical Perspective: A Response to Radical Critiques

This paper critically reviews radical critiques of multicultural education from a pedagogical perspective. Goals for the paper are: to reveal agreement between radical and multicultural discourse about transformative pedagogy, exemplify a body of literature about pedagogical struggles not recognized by radical critics, and encourage interchange between these groups in regard to critical multicultural education.The authors are interested in transformative, multicultural pedagogy, which is associated with critical multicultural education. They seek to know the extent to which transformative multicultural pedagogy is addressed within radical critiques of multicultural education. They question the extent to which voices of teachers and students engaged in real transformative pedagogy are acknowledged by radical critics.Ideological agreement is found between radical critics and multicultural educators in regard to transformative pedagogy. However, radical critics do not acknowledge this agreement, or perceive multicultural education as transformative. In response, the authors reference a growing body of literature that portrays real, transformative, multicultural pedagogy in action in school and university classrooms. They encourage radical critics to read this literature and consider alliances between radical and multicultural theory and practice.     

Teaching civic education for a civil, democratic society

Most countries of the world have experienced a revival in civic education in recent years. Issues of globalization, migration, national identity, citizenship, democracy, and civil society have forced them to devise, or reflect upon, some form of civic education for their schools. This is certainly the case for many countries in the Asian region. We have sought to identify appropriate pedagogy for teaching civics and citizenship in schools across the Asian region. From the literature it was possible to identify four categories of pedagogical strategies for civics and citizenship education which are applicable to the great variety of Asian schools. The categories are: 1) class-based, passive — cognitive pedagogies; 2) school-based, passive — cognitive pedagogies; 3) class-based, participative-active pedagogies; and 4) school-based, participative-active pedagogies. Some of these strategies appear more promising than others in Asian schools given that traditional, didactic teaching strategies dominate. What looks most promising include: whole school pedagogical strategies; critical thinking, particularly through group work; a variety of cooperative learning strategies including group problem-solving exercises; school-based activity learning; and the use of a technology such as CD ROMs as a resource. It is unlikely only one pedagogical strategy will prove to be singularly effective with civics. A more probable outcome will be that a combination of strategies will be most effective. Future research will provide suggestions as to the composition of that set of pedagogical strategies.     

我们时代的教育学教育——以教师的教育学教育为例

教育学的发展离不开教育学的教育。教育学教育的对象涉及师范生、教育专业的研究生、教师、非教育职业的大众。就针对教育实践者的教育学教育而言,需要以时代为背景,确立教师立场和实践立场,并在此基础上确立教育学教育的目标,包括激发教育学之趣,引发教育学之需,形成教育学之养,养成教育学之眼,培养教育学之觉等。     

解蔽教育的“价值”世界

教育何以值得个人领受?人的教育何以与价值构成关联?类似这样的价值命题恐怕一直被教育学研究所青睐的认识论光环所遮蔽,而对于这一命题的解蔽不仅是教育学的一个研究领域的显现,而且是教育与生命构成实践关联的原点。从价值命题存在的先决条件出发可以使教育世界价值向实践转化,并为中国原创教育学的生成指出了一条实践逻辑之路。     

Supporting students' pedagogical working life horizon in higher education

In this article, we introduce a model of a pedagogical working life horizon. It encompasses questions posed by individual students concerning their future and incorporates the idea of a working life orientation to the pedagogical possibilities within education. Working life orientation consists of three elements: individual relationship, knowledge and skills and employability. In the model, we aim to outline how an orientation to working life might be included in higher education, providing a broad perspective on the various pedagogical possibilities. There are two key pedagogical elements supporting the implementation of the pedagogical working life horizons model: reflection and an inquiring attitude. Our inquiry is a synthesis of socio-constructionist theories of career guidance, a review of international writing on career guidance and working life skills in higher education, adult learning theories and of our practical experiences as educators and scholars in the fields of guidance and adult education.     

Pedagogical Renewal for Quality Universal Primary Education: Overview of Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article assumes that pedagogical renewal and teacher development are two sides of the same coin, and that the achievement of a universal primary education that is equitable and of acceptable quality in Sub-Saharan Africa will depend to a large extent on both. The need for pedagogical renewal stems from the evidence that (i) teaching is arguably the strongest school-level determinant of student achievement; (ii) teaching effect on student learning is reportedly higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than it is in high-income countries; (iii) learning achievement is considerably lower in the sub-continent’s schools; and (iv) the kind of teaching that takes place in these schools confines students to a passive role and only fosters lower order skills. An overview of experiences with pedagogical renewal highlights the challenges involved in adopting open-ended instructional practices on the sub-continent. It further points to bilingual education as one of the most promising strategies. Regardless of the route taken for renewing pedagogy, the professional development of teacher educators/trainers must be considered a critical enabling condition.     

Tightrope walkers and solidarity sisters: critical workplace educators in the garment industry

This article focuses on the complex negotiations of critical workplace educators positioned amongst contradictory agendas and discourses in the workplace. While philosophically aligned with critical pedagogical agendas of transformation and collective action for workplace change, these educators perform an array of pedagogic articulations in everyday practice to secure their continued presence in the workplace. What becomes evident in these seemingly opposing articulations are various strategic political positionings of educators alongside their juggling of demands, attachments and inter‐identifications with both learners and managers. The pedagogy that emerges challenges conventional binaries of ‘transformative’ and ‘reproductive’ learning. Dynamics of transformation and liberation as well as reproduction and subjugation appear to be interlinked, along with expanding nets of social relations that blur power hierarchies and spatial boundaries, in a pedagogy that ultimately appears to mobilise hope and agency among workers. The workplace educator works a delicate balance of these dynamics to survive. The argument is based on a case study of a garment factory in Canada in which an adult education programme managed to thrive for 17 years: both workers and educators were interviewed in depth.     

From a Language to a Theory of Resistance: Critical Pedagogy,the Limits of “Framing,” and Social Change

In this article, Rebecca Tarlau attempts to build a more robust theory of the relationship between education and social change by drawing on the conceptual tools offered in the critical pedagogy and social movement literatures. Tarlau argues that while critical pedagogy has been largely disconnected from its roots in political organizing, social movement literature has shifted away from a theory of educational processes within movement building. Specifically, she suggests that the currently dominant “framing perspective” in the social movement literature is incredibly limited in its ability to analyze the pedagogical aspects of organizing. Conversely, while scholars of critical pedagogy are extremely convincing when critiquing U.S. schooling, the field is weaker when theorizing about how teachers using critical pedagogy can link to larger movements for social transformation. Critical pedagogues need more organizational thinking and social movement scholars need a more pedagogical focus. Tarlau suggests three conceptual frameworks for moving forward in this direction: the notion of social movements as pedagogical spaces, the role of informal educational projects in facilitating the emergence and strength of social movements, and the role of public schools as terrains of contestation that hold the possibility of linking to larger struggles for social justice.     

Problems and prospects in ecocritical pedagogy

Place‐based ecocritical pedagogy (PBEP) has been a key part of ecocriticism since the 1980s. In the last 10 years, the critical, theoretical, scientific and philosophical assumptions with which it has been associated have been subject to sustained critique, and yet PBEP remains the dominant model in pedagogical thinking within the field. In particular, developments in ecocritical thought associated with queer theory, globalisation and postcoloniality, indicate some severe limitations of PBEP. Moreover, published material on PBEP practice and research seems largely ignorant of developments in environmental education generally. I argue for a closer relationship between ecocriticism and environmental education and for ecocritical pedagogy to assume a more sceptical and empirical approach.     

Promoting Teacher Learning Through Learning Study Discourse: The Case of Science Teachers in Singapore

The potential of a theory of variation-framed learning study, a teacher professional development approach, to help teachers overcome curricular and pedagogical challenges associated with teaching new science curricula content was explored. With a group of Singapore teachers collaboratively planning and teaching new genetics content, phenomenographic analysis of data corpus from classroom observations, teacher meetings and interviews revealed teacher learning that manifested in the teachers’ experiences. These were captured as (1) increased degrees of student-centered pedagogy and challenges to teachers’ prior assumptions about science pedagogy, (2) increased awareness of possibilities and limitations of their beliefs about science pedagogy, and (3) emergence of new understandings about new curricular content and science pedagogy. The possibility of transformative and generative learning is also discussed.