Accepting Educational Responsibility: Critical Teacher Professional Development

• In Event: Critically Examining Social Justice–Oriented Curriculum for Teacher Preparation and Development

Abstract

Recent calls for education that is transformative and liberatory require intentionally designed professional learning experiences that support teachers’ engagement with pedagogical tools necessary for social change. The qualitative study aimed to understand teachers’ learning about experiential education as a form of critical praxis. Findings focus on two tenets of critical pedagogy; dialectical theory and resistance/counter hegemony. The nature of the professional development provided space for teachers to deepen learning about experiential education and provided the facilitators with the opportunity to model critical pedagogical principles such as leveraging dialogue to unpack and resolve issues. Implications for a process for critical experiential education that brings foundations of experiential education and critical pedagogy into action are discussed.

Authors

• Jeannette Alarcon, The University of Houston

• Sara C. Heredia, University of North Carolina - Greensboro