Critical Pedagogy: A Time to Cross Boundaries in Higher Education

• In Event: 46.065 - Critical Examining and Reinvigorating Critical Pedagogy Through a Self-Reflexive Symposium of Leading Critical Pedagogues

Abstract

Critical pedagogy (CP) in higher education can be primarily found in schools of education, but the number of critical pedagogues still confines CP to the margins of the field of education. Critical pedagogues in the field of education hope that by introducing CP to future classroom teachers will benefit a participatory democracy. Therefore, as individuals involved will become critical and sensitized to issues of social justice, society hopefully will move closer to be more equitable. CP in higher education, however, should be integrated into other fields of the academy, any field can be ‘critical’ not just the field of education. There should be a CP of geology, physics, architecture, nursing, biology, etc. The concepts and notions of CP can be applied in all fields of higher education. Knowledge, however, should not be compartmentalized; it all can converge with the support of CP resulting in a “better” world. Broadening the reach of CP in higher education can be accomplished by providing workshops, professional development seminars, critical discussion roundtables, and engagement in Centers for Teaching and Learning at respective colleges and universities. Like the projects ‘writing across the curriculum’ or ‘ethics across the curriculum,’ there should be a ‘critical pedagogy across the curriculum.’ It is up to each critical pedagogue to take on this challenge and to dialogue with colleagues outside the field of education, to work collaboratively across disciplinary boundaries in a joint effort to broaden the reach of CP in higher education.

Author

• Ana Lucia Cruz, Saint Louis Community College