Session Information
33 SES 16 A, Transformative Pedagogies and Women's Well-Being
Paper Session
Contribution
We believe that adopting this vision implies a paradigm shift in education in the era of uncertainty, considering the constantly evolving world in which we find ourselves. Therefore, it represents a transformation towards a more hopeful model for the future.
Feminist Pedagogy Paradigm
Feminist pedagogy proposes a model that integrates society as a whole and everyone within it. It starts with the body, gender identity, and delves into economic, social, and political aspects. It is grounded in principles that view the world as an interaction between living and non-living entities, seeking to harmonize life in all its dimensions from a critical and constructive standpoint. Additionally, it aims to challenge preconceived ideas and view the world differently, placing itself in it in a completely different way to disidentify with what we have identified with.
It opposes the hierarchical structuring of values from greater to lesser importance and from higher to lower value. Values associated with masculinity, such as ambition, power, success, conquest, and utility, are placed above values centered on relationships, experiences, desires, considered feminine. The latter, however, represent an essential source of cohesion for life and a higher degree of sustainability, such as the value of care (Donoso and Velasco, 2013).
Implications of Feminist Pedagogy
Therefore, applying feminist pedagogy implies a change in teaching-learning processes, in conceptual content about gender relations, in knowledge not subject to sexist distortion, in gender-unbiased teaching methodologies, in identifying cultural elements that tend to domination, in didactic strategies for change, and in the deconstruction of gender-crossed identities (Donoso-Vázquez, Montané, and Pessoa de Carvalho, 2014).
Sometimes, mistakenly, this pedagogy can be understood only as a way to address gender-related issues. However, feminist pedagogy has demonstrated its ability to adapt to a constantly evolving reality, and any topic can be analyzed from this perspective by assuming a changing, diverse, heterogeneous, and constantly transforming reality: inclusive education, democracy, citizenship construction, cyber violence, diverse sexualities, pornography, current student pessimism, prevailing demotivation, nihilism, apathy.
Feminist Pedagogy in Higher Education
Feminist pedagogy in higher education aims to develop a critical perspective towards discrimination in students, helping them extract the gender-power cultural worldview and adopt an active/participatory position with responsibility for social changes (Gay and Kirkland, 2003; McLeod, 2000). In this sense, the basic principles of this pedagogy challenge normative university pedagogical practice (Wieler 2010), as they value experiential knowledge and reflectivity. The commitment to treating students as active agents and the role of the faculty as learners in the classroom destabilize the power dynamics between faculty and students (Gore 1992). It also seeks to address teaching as a form of activism, with the intention that students not only learn about the world but also desire to transform it for the common good (Jenny Louise-Lawrence, 2014).
Method
Based on the process of reflection and literature review on feminist pedagogy carried out for the development of the course 'Orientation and Gender' at the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona, and within the research group in which the researchers actively participate, valuable practical conclusions have been derived that specify and apply this gender perspective in the context of the mentioned course This optative course is aimed at 2nd, 3rd, or 4th-year students in the Pedagogy degree and has been an integral part of the academic plan for over ten years. The course covers concepts related to gender, sexuality, care ethics, feminist political theory, sex-affective relationships, and gender-based violence. The work presented here represents the outcome of continuous and cumulative reflection over this period, demonstrating the commitment and constant evolution in the incorporation of feminist pedagogy approaches in the academic training offered at the mentioned faculty. General objective: Contribute to the systematized reflection on feminist pedagogy in education. Specific objectives: • Present illustrative practical cases that exemplify the implementation of this pedagogy in real situations. • Promote the generation of practical tools that contribute to the effective implementation of feminist pedagogical approaches in educational settings.
Expected Outcomes
Some of the conclusions obtained in this process are as follows: • Understanding the teaching-learning process in a bidirectional manner, where the positions of both the teaching staff and the students are questioned, promoting the participation of the latter (hooks, 2021). This is achieved through initial agreements in class to cooperatively build the learning space and mutual responsibility in the educational process. • Advocating for students not to take on a passive and external role in educational issues but to assume an active and participatory position with responsibility for social changes. This involves changing beliefs, attitudes, and common practices, fostering self-inquiry (McLeod, 2000). In the classroom setting, this is materialized through the construction of a conducive space for debate and participation through small discussion groups. Evaluation is also encouraged through introspective exercises. • Transforming mandates established from a patriarchal and androcentric perspective. Inquiring into preconceived ideas that the school has not always managed to eliminate; with the aim of changing them, challenging dichotomies, and expanding moral, cognitive, and critical thinking about oppression (Markowitz, 2005). To achieve this, student stereotypes are investigated with the intention of analyzing and transforming them. In addition, theoretical lectures are combined with practical exercises to overcome the dichotomy between theory and practice, criticized by feminist pedagogues (for example, Jiménez-Cortés, 2021), and to be able to modify these previous conceptions in a more comprehensive way. • Understanding the body as an active part of learning, recognizing that corporeality is part of education (hooks, 2021). This is achieved without invalidating or hiding the affective aspect that may arise in classes, as well as using experiential methodologies.
References
Donoso-Vázquez, T., & Velasco-Martínez, A. (2013). ¿Por qué una propuesta de formación en perspectiva de género en el ámbito universitario?. Profesorado. Revista de currículum y formación de profesorado, 17(1), 71-88. http://www.ugr.es/local/recfpro/rev171ART5.pdf Donoso-Vázquez, T., Montané, A., & de Carvalho, M. E. P. (2014). Género y calidad en Educación Superior. Revista electrónica interuniversitaria de formación del profesorado, 17(3), 157-171. https://doi.org/10.6018/reifop.17.3.204121 Gay, G., & Kirkland, K. (2003). Developing cultural critical consciousness and self-reflection in preservice teacher education. Theory into practice, 42(3), 181-187. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4203_3 Gore, J. (1992). What we can do for you! What can “we” do for “you”? Struggling over empowerment in critical and feminist pedagogy. Feminisms and critical pedagogy, 54-73. Hooks, B. (2021). Enseñar a transgredir: La educación como práctica de la libertad. Capitán Swing Libros. Jiménez-Cortés, R. (2021). Diseño y desafíos metodológicos de la investigación feminista en ciencias sociales. Empiria. Revista De metodología De Ciencias Sociales, (50), 177–200. https://doi.org/10.5944/empiria.50.2021.30376 Louise-Lawrence, J. (2014). Feminist pedagogy in action: reflections from the front line of feminist activism-the feminist classroom. Enhancing learning in the social sciences, 6(1), 29-41. 10.11120/elss.2014.00022 Markowitz, L. (2005). Unmasking moral dichotomies: can feminist pedagogy overcome student resistance?. Gender and Education, 17(1), 39-55. https://doi.org/10.1080/0954025042000301294 McLeod, J. (2000). Subjectivity and schooling in a longitudinal study of secondary students. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 21(4), 501-521. https://doi.org/10.1080/713655367 Wieler, C. (2010). Embodying integral education in five dimensions. Integral education: New directions for higher learning, 289.
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