Returning to the source: Reflexivity and transformation in understanding a humanising pedagogy

Abstract

While a humanising pedagogy can be a mechanism to facilitate (re)humanisation in the South African education context, a diversity of perspectives related to the concept prevails. This is to be expected given the variety of lived experiences and histories in South Africa. This project attempted to develop and extend shared understandings of the concept of a humanising pedagogy through a process of enacted reflexivity and transformative learning. A participatory mode of inquiry using metaphor drawings was used as a means of deconstructing the complex phenomenon of a humanising pedagogy-this included self-study by four teacher educators (authors of this paper) to facilitate shared understandings of its praxis. Such processes have the potential to catalyse the kind of transformative learning that continues to inform praxis.