Emancipatory pedagogy and community work: The teaching-practice nexus

Abstract

This article draws on fleldwork and research with bachelor level social work students based on an initial assumption that engendering critical understanding among students would contribute to critical action. It identifies the role of the educator in promoting democratic and participator)' approaches to community work and research, and discusses the cascade effect from classroom to community engagement and research. The central theses is that achievement of emancipatory ideals means that participation intersects all levels of relationships and that complex and circular power dynamics between educator-students-communities be recognized, and that we work against neoliberal and new managerial influences in education.