Leveraging Mindful Abstraction as a Tool for Liberation: Lessons From an International Education Undergraduate Course

• In Event: Agency, Impact, and Liberation: Reflection and Practice in Teacher Education

Abstract

With this presentation, we trace how specific pedagogical techniques can help pre-service teachers connect abstract topics in international educational policy to their own experiences and those of their future student populations. Leveraging the notion of hooks’ (1994) engaged pedagogy, we explore how the use of mindful abstraction techniques help our pre-service teachers better understand the implications of educational policy measures, both neoliberal and social progressive in nature, for diverse student populations to liberate them from the inherent biases that come from growing up in a neoliberal system. Specifically, we present a case study of an undergraduate International Education course wherein students work collaboratively to develop hypothetical school systems that address real-world educational issues in both developed and developing nation contexts.

Authors

• Andrea Arce-Trigatti, Tallahassee Community College

• Ashlee Anderson, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville