Higher education institutions face the critical challenge of preparing their graduates to work and live in intercultural and superdiverse environments. To help graduates understand and ultimately challenge inequities in society, this preparation entails fostering critical consciousness (understanding structural inequities), critical motivation (a sense of responsibility to address them), and critical action intentions (the willingness to take informed action to challenge social injustice) among students (Diemer et al., 2022). Yet, teachers working in higher education often lack the time, resources, and institutional support to create learning environments that support students in developing critical consciousness and action, and may be insecure to extensively and critically discuss topics surrounding diversity and inequities (Hölscher et al., 2024). In this study, we therefore present and evaluate an innovative intervention which uses podcasting as a tool to cultivate critical consciousness and action among social sciences students.

Informed by cultural literacy pedagogies for higher education (García Ochoa et al., 2016; García Ochoa & McDonald, 2019), our podcasting intervention employs a strategy that aims to firstly invoke destabilisation (discomfort) within students, which is then followed by structured reflection exercises. This destabilisation is necessary to develop critical consciousness by creating a “rupture in knowing” that forces students to confront their own biases and discomfort with cultural differences . Through guided reflection, this discomfort is turned into learning by giving students tools to understand and interpret unfamiliar cultural situations. Together, these processes help students move beyond “passive ignorance” toward a more active and reflective understanding of cultural difference.

We translated the cultural literacy framework principles of destabilization and reflection in an adapted version of the (Re)Searching Identity Podcast intervention (Vietze et al., 2025), aimed to enhance critical consciousness, motivation, and action, by making use of three distinct phases  (Vietze et al., 2025). Firstly, students listen to and reflect on recorded podcast episodes. In each episode, one scientist or professional is interviewed about their experiences at work and in academia and how these experiences may have been shaped by their own culture, ethnicity, or race. Secondly, students use established interviewing techniques to co-create and record their own podcast episodes, thereby actively engaging with minoritized and marginalized stories and experiences of a scientist or professional of their choice. Thirdly, students and their teacher reflect on the complexity and heterogeneity of experiences encountered in the podcast episodes and relate them to societal and educational issues of marginalization.

Against this background, our study aims to evaluate the podcasting intervention both as a tool and as an application of critical/cultural literacy pedagogy in higher education with the goal to foster students’ critical consciousness and action. Specifically, the study examines whether and under which conditions the intervention supports the development of students’ critical consciousness and action (RQ1), and how students and teachers experience the instruction, implementation, and underlying critical literacy approach of the podcast intervention (RQ2).

We implemented the podcast intervention in two Educational Sciences courses on Master level at two Dutch research universities. Both were small-scale courses that covered topics of diversity and inclusion in education and broader society. To evaluate the intervention, we employed a mixed-methods design, in which qualitative and quantitative data were collected simultaneously. The qualitative component consisted of semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, while the quantitative component involved student pre-test and post-test surveys including measures of critical consciousness, motivation, and action intention (Diemer et al., 2022). In total, 16 students and 2 teachers participated in the qualitative interviews, and 20 students completed both the pre-test and post-test surveys. Quantitative analyses were limited to descriptive comparisons between pre-test and post-test scores, intended to provide contextual support for the qualitative findings rather than to test hypotheses. The semi-structured interviews with students and teachers were conducted after the podcast intervention. Topics that were discussed during the interviews include experiences during the podcast exercise, including experiences of discomfort and reflection, and critical consciousness and action. The interview section on critical consciousness and action made use of a reflective vignette technique, were students re-examine their baseline responses (filled out before the intervention) to a cultural scenario to identify shifts in critical consciousness and action. The teacher interviews included sections on their experiences with implementation of the intervention, and on the extent to which the intervention helped them to become more confident in facilitating sensitive topics of diversity and inequities (i.e., diversity-related self-efficacy). All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021), allowing for the identification of recurring patterns and themes related to the pedagogical processes of destabilization and reflection, as well as perceived changes in students’ critical consciousness, motivation, and action intentions. Thematic analysis was chosen as it enabled a systematic yet flexible examination of participants’ experiences, while remaining sensitive to both anticipated themes derived from the cultural literacy framework and emergent themes grounded in the data.

Initial readings of the interview data collected in December 2025 show indications that the podcast, and particularly the process of destabilization and reflection, worked as intended. Students’ priorly held assumptions were challenged while listening and creating podcasts, which made them realize that what they knew was incomplete. Interviews showed for instance that students were confronted with difficult professional realities, such as how colour-blind thinking is pervasive in and still shapes educational practice, that caused discomfort. However, as students actively discussed and reflected together with their peers on their experiences, students began to actively question what they did not know and what they could do about it. In the vignette exercise, where students reflected on their pre-intervention responses to a cultural scenario, students described a stronger critical awareness. Students generally valued the assignment because it was different from what they were used to, and as it gave them a chance for an in-depth and authentic conversation with an educational professional. They appreciated doing a more creative and engaging type of exercise. Yet, students also mentioned that the reflective podcast felt more demanding than traditional assignments (e.g., essays, tests). Although these early findings point to potential of the intervention, the analysis is still at an early stage; these conclusions should been seen as a first interpretation. Moving forward, we will systematically analyse both students and teacher interviews, together with the quantitative survey data. Using thematic analysis, we will primarily focus on the specific mechanisms through which the intervention’s structure of listening, connecting, and reflecting effectively caused discomfort and supported reflection among the students.

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