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BEDU214
Critical Pedagogy

MQF Level: 6

ECTS Value: 4 ECTS

Self Study Hours: 48

Contact Hours: 20

Assessment Hours: 32

 

Overall Objectives and Outcomes

Critical Pedagogy constitutes a major means through which important aims within the National Curriculum Framework (2012) can be achieved effectively. Specifically, adopting a critical pedagogy approach in class helps teachers to provide all learners with a “holistic education relevant for life” (NCF, 2012, p.32) and also an education that enables all learners to respect diversity in all its forms and promote an inclusive environment (NCF, 2012). Most importantly, critical pedagogy is a way through which teachers can promote the development of “analytical, critical and creative thinking” (NCF, 2012, p.32) in all learners, by helping them to challenge unjust power structures and consider possible alternatives. This module aims to develop course participants’ ability to critically engage with core issues within the Critical Pedagogy scholarship. Throughout this module, learners are enabled to critically engage with concepts such as: gender, ethnicity, race, ethnic minorities, transformative education, ‘conscientization’, justice and structural disadvantages, along with several other key notions.  Course participants will evaluate the contribution that Critical Pedagogy can make in the compulsory education system. Once learners develop a strong grip of the core notions, they will engage with different ways in which a critical pedagogical approach can be implement in their classrooms, through dialogic (as opposed to banking) education, learner-centred approaches, and democratic teaching strategies

By the end of this programme, participants should be able to:

Competences

a. Develop a critical consciousness that is conducive to democratic teaching methods;

b. Express the importance of Critical Pedagogy for students’ education;

c. Implement a critical pedagogical approach in the classroom.


Knowledge 

a. The foundations of Critical Pedagogy;

b. The dynamics within society which show why being educated in critical pedagogy is essential;

c. Key concepts and principles relevant to the study of Critical Pedagogy (such as eurocentrism, racism, ethnocentrism, essentialism, sexism, homophobia, globalisation, neoliberalism);

d. The main characteristics that distinguish a critical pedagogue;

e. The importance of Critical Pedagogy for students’ holistic education;

f. How to apply a critical pedagogical approach in the classroom.


Skills

a. Outline the main concepts and principles of critical pedagogy;

b. Critically analyse concepts and principles that underpin Critical Pedagogy;

c. Identify and evaluate the salient characteristics of a Critical Pedagogue;

d. Design and develop lesson planning that is equity-oriented and anti-oppressive in line with a critical pedagogical approach to teaching;

e Apply a Critical Pedagogical approach to the teaching and learning process in the classroom in order to enable students to question common sense notions of schooling and reveal biases and structural disadvantages.

Assessment Methods

This module will be assessed through: Assignment and Presentation.

Suggested Readings

Core Reading List
  1. Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin.
  2. Giroux, H (1989) Schooling for Democracy: Critical Pedagogy in the Modern Age. London: Routledge.
  3. Giroux, H. A. (2011). On critical pedagogy. Continuum International Publishing Group.
Supplementary Reading List
  1. Hinchey, P. H. (2004). Becoming a critical educator: Defining a classroom Identity, designing a critical pedagogy. Peter Lang Publishing.
  2. Leonardo, Z. (2009). Critical pedagogy and race. John Wiley & Sons.
  3. McLaren, P., & Kincheloe, J. L. (2007). Critical pedagogy: Where are we now? Peter Lang Publishing.
  4. Steinberg, S. R., & Down, B. (2020). The SAGE Handbook of Critical Pedagogies. SAGE Publications Ltd.
  5. Monchinski, T. (2008). Critical pedagogy and the everyday classroom. Springer Science & Business Media.
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