Facilitating critical pedagogy: Challenges and rewards

Georgieff, André Sascha (2020) Facilitating critical pedagogy: Challenges and rewards. Masters by Research thesis, Murdoch University.

Abstract

In this dissertation I explore and report a series of critical teaching dilemmas that occurred in the context of a social justice teacher education unit. Facilitating Critical Pedagogy: Challenges and Rewards is an auto-ethnographic qualitative research project grounded in critical theory. It uses Critical Reflective Practice, in order to advise, provoke and reform significant teaching challenges. Discussing issues surrounding social justice with student teachers can be a rewarding experience. It can however, also create teaching incidents when students become defiant and resistant to change. When this manifests as passive resistance, introducing sociological questions concerning notions of identity, privilege and racism can become difficult. My journal writing, using a Describe, Reflect and Act sequence on significant teaching incidents, examined how I acted towards students. This process helped me ascertain what scope there is for becoming a more effective facilitator of learning under difficult and challenging circumstances. Further research analysis incorporated a fourth ‘Reconstruct’ stage of Critical Reflective Practice within the sequence and this allowed me to further analyse my research data within a research methodology.

Critical theorising and journaling is the methodology I used because it motions educators to become better practitioners through reflective practice. The contribution of this study to educational research is such that teachers will recognise that by understanding, reflecting and acting in certain critical situations they have the power to change the awareness of students. They also may learn that to be effective in certain educational settings, teachers will have to develop more trusting relationships with students and engage in deeper dialogues about social justice. The major finding locates critical narrative, action research and critical thinking within reach of practitioners because it joins theory with the practices of good teaching.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters by Research)
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	Education
United Nations SDGs:	Goal 4: Quality Education
Supervisor(s):	Fernandes-Satar, Audrey and Maor, Dorit
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/58963

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