Teachers' Perceptions of Advisory as a Space for Nurturing Adolescents' Civic Development and Critical Consciousness

• In Event: Relational Spaces of Educational Transformation

Abstract

Critical consciousness refers to the ability to analyze and challenge oppressive forces. Paulo Freire asserted that nurturing students’ critical consciousness should be the primary goal of education so that youth can challenge oppression and transform society. One promising space for critical consciousness work in the middle grades is advisory. This qualitative study explores how educators describe and understand the constraints and affordances of advisory as a space for nurturing middle schoolers’ critical consciousness. One preliminary finding is that some teachers express concern that engaging students in sociopolitical discussions in advisory will weaken students’ feelings of belonging and safety in advisory while other teachers characterize advisory as the ideal setting for such discussions because of those feelings of belonging and safety.

Authors

• Babatunde Alford, Boston College

• Scott Clifford Seider, Boston College

• Kaila Daza, Boston College

• Elianny C. Edwards, College of the Holy Cross

• Christina L. Dobbs, Boston University

• Daren Graves, Simmons University

• Sarah E. Fogelman, Boston College

• Brianna C. Diaz, Boston College

• Trang U. Le, Boston College

• Hannah Choi, Boston College

• Alexandra Honeck, Boston College

• Hehua Xu, Harvard University

• Yuwen Shen, Boston College

• Marisa Huang, Boston College