Emancipatory Learning Possibilities in a Salon-Like Model of Teacher Community

• In Event: Centering Identity and Political Dimensions in the Learning Sciences

Abstract

To counter the reification of individuation—a separation from the world—in schooling, scholars have reframed emancipation as a project of becoming-with-others, a pivot from focusing on individual mastery and knowledge possession toward nurturing students’ sense of mutual responsibility. In a multiyear investigation of a group of K-16 math educators, we observed how a school-like model of collaborative activity gave way to a more freeform salon-like model similar to coffee-house gatherings described by scholars of social movements. In this latter model, the teachers seemed to create an experience of mutual responsibility and the potential for emancipatory learning. We contrast the two forms of social organization, and offer suggestions for reimagining learning spaces for emancipatory forms of learning.

Authors

• Frederick Peck, University of Montana - Missoula

• Ian Parker Renga, University of Southern Maine

• Ke Wu, University of Montana

• David R. Erickson, University of Montana