Nurturing Biophilic Pedagogies Against Neoliberal Practices: A Case for a Freirean-Based Ecological Practitioner Inquiry

• In Event: Reaffirming Critical Education's Commitment to the Radicalization of Democracy and the Constitution of Active Citizenship

Abstract

This paper focuses on three Freirean tenets, which I deploy as a springboard to make a case for an inclusive ecological practitioner inquiry that can be levelled against neoliberal objectifying practices. I argue that incorporating those tenets in practitioner inquiry enables educational practitioners to overcome two educational contradictions: the Freirean teacher/student and the teacher/student-researcher contradictions. The Freirean tenets are unraveled in relation to analogies Freire mentions in relation to dialogical and problem-posing pedagogy vs banking education: biophilic education, “object”, and the corpo consciente. In this conceptual discussion, drawing on my practical and conceptual work as a practitioner-researcher, I develop those analogies to argue for a practitioner inquiry as a biophilic practice to be embedded in our daily pedagogy.

Author

• Anna Costantino, University of Greenwich