The Re-Emergence of Critical Pedagogy: A Three-Dimensional Framework for Teacher Education in the Age of Teacher Effectiveness

Abstract

In light of the extensive treatment given over its thirty year existence, this article develops a framework for helping teachers understand the applicability and relevance of critical pedagogy in the classroom during this age of effectiveness and standardization. To do this, critical pedagogy is theoretically framed three-dimensionally. The purpose is to help teachers think through critical pedagogy in a way that might encourage them to analyze their own practices and thus create and enact critical pedagogies that are uniquely their own. The first dimension pertains to its contested terrain. An understanding of critical pedagogy must begin with a disclaimer. This disclaimer sug-gests that though there are common objectives, there are key points of contestation. The second dimension, then, seeks to find the common ground. This dimension focuses on the commitments of critical pedagogy, and thus, the commitments of those who might try. Lastly, critical pedagogy im-pels teachers to use their classrooms to make life more humane. To aid in this task, teachers en-gaging in critical pedagogics take certain philosophical positions, the third dimension of critical pedagogy.