Addressing Development Education Though Critical Pedagogy And Action Research

Author(s):

Mags Liddy(presenting / submitting)Marie Parker-Jenkins(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

07 SES 04 A, Meaningful Learning in an Unjust World

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-19

09:00-10:30

Room:

ESI 3 - Aula 4

Chair:

Eunice Macedo

Contribution

We live in a time of great flux and uncertainty. Each day we read about new phases of disorganised capitalism, currency fluctuations and angst, political unrest and technological change. Additionally the long-standing issues associated with the developing world continue such as famine, poverty and child labour. But how do teachers address these global issues and encourage understanding and action for transformation?

A time of change requires new approaches to teaching and learning, in terms of content and teaching methodologies. We argue that development education can be embedded into teaching and curriculum, which has the possibility of strengthening democracy and creating a more egalitarian and just society, and we employ the concept of critical pedagogy as an approach to engage in teaching which has the potential to impact on future decisions at both local and national level. Irish Aid define development education as "supporting people in understanding and acting to transform the social, cultural, political and economic structures which affect their lives at personal, community, national and international levels’" (Irish Aid, 2006).

We argue that development education should be viewed as a critical part of children’s education at the local level rather than being perceived as an abstract global issue referring only to the developing world. Whilst all education is valuable for learners, we argue that certain skills and knowledge should be prioritised, which engages learners with development and sustainability issues. Understanding the links from local to global is essential to this form of education as our decisions and actions impact on us as well as the rest of the world. This leads us to the second aspect of our approach, namely critical pedagogy. Paulo Freire is often cited by both development education practitioners and critical pedagogues. In his writings, he encourages the learner to “recognize connections between their individual problems and experiences and the social contexts in which they are embedded” and to “develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation” (1970, p64).

The belief in education as transformative and a source of empowerment is an appealing feature of critical pedagogy, which we believe is shared with development education. This belief is not just in the transformative potential of an educative process, but also reflects the hope and optimism that change in the economic and political structures, which maintain privilege for some and inequality for others, is possible. Another appealing feature is the emphasis on power and privilege which critical pedagogy perspective brings by providing a theoretical lens to examine these social, political and economic structures, and their interconnections. Transformative education requires learners to ask profound questions about the organisation of our world and our behaviours. This can be an unsettling and challenging learning process as it calls into question our experiences and beliefs as well as challenging educators to contest aspects of school policy.

Method

This paper draws on research work presented in our forthcoming book Education that Matters: critical pedagogy and development education at local and global level. The book highlights case studies of action research and professional enquiry to inform teaching which integrates development education and demonstrates how the local is affected by the global, and vice-versa. Action research establishes the possibilities of transformative learning through opening communicative spaces, discourse analysis and unlearning privilege (Kemmis 2001). While this is an important stage in transformative learning and working towards quality development education, dialogue and learning is not enough. "Critical pedagogy goes beyond situating the learning experience within the experience of the learner: it is a process which takes the experiences of both the learner and the teacher and, through dialogue and negotiation, recognizes them both as problematic" (Grundy 1987, p105). Individual and group research projects conducted in teacher education illustrate the use of action research to enable change in teaching methodologies and content. These projects were all supported by the Ubuntu Network, an ongoing research programme based at the University of Limerick, Ireland and funded by Irish Aid.

Expected Outcomes

Our future is unclear and what knowledge we require is uncertain. Education cannot not offer ready-made solutions to local and global problems, however it can provide the necessary skills our children need to enable them to participate fully in the future of their communities and of our planet. Our role as teachers and educationalists in guiding children and other learners is clear, but questions remain as to whether we preparing learners for these uncertainties, and enabling them to make the necessary decisions for their future. It is our responsibility to act as key change agents as advocated by UNESCO (Hopkins and McKeown 2005). Current social problems challenge all educationalists to reflect on their beliefs about education and can be unsettling and challenging to teachers’ role and classroom identity. Policy makers, teachers and teacher educators need to reconsider what truly matters in education. Action research within a framework of critical pedagogy provides the opportunity to engage with these issues and questions and be active participants in the direction of future education.

References

Cullingford, C. and Blewitt, J. (eds.) (2004) The Sustainability Curriculum UK: Earthscan Hogan, D. and Tormey, R. (2008) A perspective on the relationship between development education and education for sustainable development, Policy and Practice, Spring 2008 Hopkins, Charles, Rosalyn McKeown, and the International Network (2005) Guidelines and Recommendation for Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability, Education for Sustainable Development in Action Technical Paper no. 2. Paris: UNESCO Freire, P. (1979) The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, London: Sheed and Ward Grundy, S. (1987) Curriculum: Product or praxis, Lewes: Falmer Irish Aid, (2006) Irish Aid and Development Education describing... understanding... challenging... available online at http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/Uploads/Irish%20Aid%20and%20Development%20Education.pdf Kemmis, S. (2001). Exploring the relevance of critical theory for action research: Emancipatory action research in the footsteps of Jürgen Habermas, in Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury, (ed.s) (2001) Handbook of action research : participative inquiry and practice, London: Sage Kemmis, S., and McTaggart, R. (2000). Participatory action research. In N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (Eds.) Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd Ed.)(pp. 567-605). Beverley Hills CA: Sage Macintyre, C. (2000) The art of action research in the classroom, London, David Fulton. McNiff, J. with Whitehead, J. 2002. Action Research: Principles and Practice Second Edition. London: Routledge Falmer Sachs, W. (1992) The Development Dictionary, UK: Zed Books Sterling, S. (2001) Sustainable Education: Re-visioning Learning and Change. Schumacher Briefing 6. Devon: Green Books Tormey, Roland (Ed). (2003) Teaching Social Justice: Intercultural and Development Education Perspectives on Education’s Context, Content and Methods. Limerick: Mary Immaculate College: Centre for Educational Disadvantage UNESCO (2002) Education for Sustainability- from Rio to Johannesburg: lessons learnt from a decade of commitment Paris: UNESCO

Author Information

Mags Liddy (presenting / submitting)

University of Limerick, Ireland

Marie Parker-Jenkins (presenting)