The Politics of Teaching

1. The Politics of Teaching Critical Perspectives

2. Curriculum Refers to the courses or subjects specified by the Ministry of Education that are taught at each grade level as well as the amount of time to be devoted to each (or the formal curriculum) The hidden curriculum refers to the legitimate knowledge promoted by the formal curriculum passed down by a particular group. This perspective on knowledge can become entrenched in the formal learning that takes place in schools.

3. Critical perspectives and the Curriculum Scholar�s claim that despite the egalitarian content of the �official curriculum�, children learn androcentric behaviours, values, and outlooks simply by participating in classes in which teachers allow boys to dominate conversations. Similarly, scholar�s concerned with racial equality argue that the hidden curriculum also presents Western or �white� values- and ways of knowing-as normative or superior to those of racial and ethnic minorities as well as aboriginal peoples.

4. Critical perspectives and the curriculum continued The hidden values that influence the curriculum, culture, structure and social environment of schools (and are consequently communicated to students) do not affect all students in the same manner. For example, students who are �minoritized� by the dominant culture of their schools and �drop out�.

5. Teaching and Pedagogy Pedagogy: The production of knowledge, identities and values. And Teaching: the transmission of this knowledge.

6. Freire and Liberation through Education Theory of Liberation: focusing on social change and fracturing the status quo. Dominant knowledge is enforced through the culture of silence, and is revealed through his notion of dialogue which serves to validate the voices of the oppressed.

7. Perception of Knowledge Knowledge is not neutral. Thus radical educators must question the nature of knowledge itself.

8. Questioning Knowledge Questioning knowledge includes asking: Whose reality is being legitmated by this knowledge? Whose interest does this knowledge represent? Why is it being taught this way? Does this knowledge have meaning for the learner? Is this knowledge part of the learner�s cultural capital?

9. Our difficulty with questioning knowledge Hegemony: everyday practices by which the prevailing distribution of power and resources in society is secured and maintained without people�s awareness of their involvement. It entails beliefs and practices so ingrained and deeply embedded as to be outside the relam of normal discourse and immune to challenges.

10. Critical Consciousness Freire maintained we could awaken from this dominant knowledge that serves to marginalize groups who are oppressed. Critical consciousness is characterized by a constant struggle between people�s capacity to think critically and the power of hegemonic ideology.

11. Native Consciousness Individuals unable to analyze these forces and link them to dominating interests means they have not developed a critical consciousness. Rather a �native consciousness� is maintained where the person does not possess a consciousness of his or her own but that of his or her oppressor.

12. Freire and Schools Schools are the centres of praxis (reflection and action) where social change can occur. Yet, schools and education rarely question knowledge and thus maintain the status quo. Schools can be centres for change because it is here that the individual can learn to participate in the organization of society.

13. Critiques of Freire It is situation specific. Domination is legitimized through the dominant ideology, which permeates all levels of society. The oppressed could become the oppressor � Freire maintains that a self-critique is imperative. The oppressed are not a homogeneous group.

14. Critical Theory and Critical Pedagogy Uses a dialectical approach and attempts to bridge the gap between theory and educational practice. The perspective allows us to see both the domination and liberation aspects of school so that teachers can recognize that students are at a disadvantage in the classroom because their values and beliefs are not congruent with the schools. There is an attempt in critical pedagogy to empower the teachers and students by giving them the knowledge about the outside forces that exist. Moreover, teachers help to empower the students by letting them have a voice.

15. Critical Pedagogy The understanding of the relationship between power and knowledge. Resistance- can yield the practical applications of critical pedagogy (youth subcultures). e.g. The Alternate School

16. Feminist Pedagogy Two strands: Women�s studies � what constitutes feminist pedagogy. Education � how gendered knowledge and experience are produced and transmitted. An inclusive curriculum considers women�s writings and experiences, as well as interpretations of history in the production of knowledge.