Critical pedagogy is a philosophy of education and social movement that developed and applied concepts from critical theory and related traditions to the field of education and the study of culture.[1]
Advocates of critical pedagogy reject the idea that knowledge is ever politically neutral and argue that teaching is an inherently political act, whether the teacher acknowledges that or not. They therefore insist that issues of social justice and democracy are not distinct from acts of teaching and learning.[2] The goal of critical pedagogy is emancipation from oppression through an awakening of the critical consciousness, based on the Portuguese term conscientização. When achieved, critical consciousness encourages individuals to affect change in their world through social critique and political action in order to self-actualize.
Critical pedagogy was founded by the Brazilian philosopher and educator Paulo Freire, who promoted it through his 1968 book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It subsequently spread internationally, developing a particularly strong base in the United States, where proponents sought to develop means of using teaching to combat racism, sexism, and capitalism. The topic was promoted through peer-review journals such as Radical Teacher. As it grew, it incorporated elements from other leftist-oriented fields like postmodern theory, feminist theory, postcolonial theory, and queer theory.
Critics have argued that it is not appropriate for institutions of higher education to explicitly promote radical political activism among their students. They have suggested that adherents of critical pedagogy have focused on promoting political perspectives in the classroom at the expense of teaching pupils other skills, such as a proficiency in writing. Critics have also suggested that many teachers influenced by critical pedagogy have promoted simplistic ideologically-driven ideas about complex social issues such as racial discrimination and class inequality that they are not qualified to teach.
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