Teaching critical thinking as a vehicle for personal and social transformation

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raz Shpeizer
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Latent Form ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Critical Thinking Pedagogy

During the second half of the 20th century, a new pedagogical movement emerged, which centered around the concept of critical thinking. While the movement soon became a significant player in the pedagogical field, its proponents continued to develop the theoretical and practical aspects of critical thinking, aiming to transform it into a full-fledged pedagogical ideal. However, at least two major issues have remained unresolved in critical thinking pedagogy. The first is the desired nature of the relation between the cognitive, moral, and social dimensions of critical thinking. The second involves the grave difficulties, many times accompanied by lack of success, encountered by teachers and educators who wish to promote critical thinking education. Therefore, in this paper, I examine the evolution of the ideal of critical thinking, arguing that from the outset it has contained—even if only in latent form—ethical, moral, and social elements, and thus these elements need to be explicitly integrated into the ideal. I then demonstrate the implementation of this broadened ideal of critical thinking in teacher education and offer a further expansion of the ideal, which strengthens its relationship to the notion of social justice, while, at the same time, suggests a way of improving the implementation of critical thinking education in the overall educational system.

scholarly journals Critical agency in the post-apartheid education system

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazir Carrim
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
South African ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Education System ◽  
The South ◽  
African Education ◽  
South African Education

This paper looks at critical agency in the South African education system. There has been a consistent linking of critical thinking with critical agency under apartheid, and that this was constructed by a ‘critical struggle’ (Touraine, 1985) against apartheid domination. However, this changed significantly in the post-apartheid moment, where compliance with the newly elected government is emphasised, and could be viewed in terms of ‘positive struggles’ (Touraine, 1986). These, however, limit critical agency in the post-apartheid formation. There is, nonetheless, evidence of critical agency being enacted in the post-apartheid education system. The importance of highlighting those forms of critical agency is crucial in order to enhance social justice in the post-apartheid educational system and society. This paper also links critical agency in the post-apartheid situation with the postcolonial and postmodern conditions because such conditions affect the possibilities of critical agency not only in South Africa but more generally.

scholarly journals Democratic Practices at School. Theoretical and Research Ascertainments

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Sousanna Maria Nikolaou
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Democratic Society ◽  
Research Data ◽  
School Practices ◽  
Democratic Citizen ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Will ◽  
Positive Climate ◽  
The Ideal

The modern democratic society must ensure the realization of the ideal democracy through the education of the youth with knowledge-skills and critical thinking and finally through the education of democratic citizens. A democratic citizen is defined as a citizen who is personally responsible, participatory, and oriented towards social justice and has the will to work for the realization of democratic ideals. The key issues the study focuses on are: What school practices contribute to the preparation of democratic citizens? What is meant by the open / positive climate of the classroom and how is it related to the strengthening of citizenship according to research data? The main purpose of the study is to reflect and raise awareness about the democratic conditions we must ensure in schools, to avoid the erosion of institutions and the rejection or loose commitment to the rules of democracy.

Service Learning and Teacher Education

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Petersen ◽  
Sarah Gravett ◽  
Sarita Ramsaroop
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Justice And Care

Although teacher education actively promotes the ideals of social justice and care, finding ways of enculturating student teachers into what these values mean in education remains a challenge. Additionally, the literature abounds with the struggles of teacher educators to prepare student teachers with the knowledge and competencies required for the complex task of teaching. A way to address this is through the inclusion of service learning (SL) in initial teacher education programs. SL, as a form of experiential learning, with reflection at its core, serves as a means of deepening student learning about the practice of social justice and care and as a way of both drawing on, and informing, student teachers’ practical and situational learning of teaching. SL also holds potential for preparing teachers with the competencies required for the 21st century. The research on SL in teacher education draws on theoretical perspectives of experiential learning, democracy education, social transformation, multicultural education, critical reflection, and education for civic responsibility. A limitation is that the literature within developing contexts is underrepresented, limiting access to useful lessons from the research in these contexts and preventing wider theorization in the field.

Equality work in teacher education in Finland

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 539-552
Author(s):  
Kristiina Brunila ◽  
Arto Kallioniemi
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Women's Studies ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Women’S Studies

Equality work is often conducted as education and teaching, and both are an intrinsic part of equality work. In this article, we focus on equality work and challenging heteronormativity by contextualising our focus both on the educational system as a whole but especially on teacher education. The promotion of equality in teacher education began in Finland in the 1980s with nationwide experimental projects, and Finnish universities undertook active efforts to promote equality in the 1990s as a result of the strengthening of women’s studies and discussions on gender equality. We show what kind of persistent problems promoting equality and challenging heteronormativity in education in Finland faces, but we also indicate how it is possible to promote equality and challenge heteronormativity by focusing on teacher education. This article is based on student teachers’ essays (N = 51) written as a part of their study in a course on social justice. The essays were analysed based on a discursive reading of the data.

Biological Determinism and the Ideological Roots of Student Classification

1983 ◽  
Vol 165 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Selden
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Immigration Restriction ◽  
Biological Determinism ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Historical Relationship ◽  
Student Classification ◽  
The Ideal

The issue of student classification was historically tied to the popular eugenics movement in the early 20th century. Supporters of this movement envisioned the ideal society as a biological meritocracy. They assumed that human betterment could take place only through controlled breeding. Biology would determine the human future. In the 1920's and 1930's this belief in biological determinism was joined with the assumption of differential biological worth. This combination of ideas supported programs of racial discrimination, immigration restriction, and student classification. The paper focuses upon the ways in which notions of differential biological worth were repeated, refined, and reintroduced as a basis for educational policy and for student classification. The work and influence of the eugenists and student classifiers Alfred E. Wiggam, H. H. Goddard, and Leta Hollingworth are analyzed. The paper proposes that the contemporary educator's emphasis upon student classification generally ignores the historical relationship between biological determinism, student classification, and the broader political issues of social justice and social equality. They are issues that are ignored at society's peril.

Striving for Critical Reflection in Multicultural and Social Justice Teacher Education: Introducing a Typology of Reflection Approaches

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Gorski ◽  
Kelly Dalton
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Social Justice Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Analysis Study ◽  
Critical Content ◽  
Education Degree ◽  
Education Courses

Multicultural and social justice teacher education (MSJTE) scholars often have argued the importance of critical reflection in the cultivation of equity and social justice minded educators. In this critical content analysis study, we used existing conceptualizations of critical reflection to analyze reflection assignments from MSJTE courses in education degree and licensing programs in the United States to identify the nature of critical reflection incorporated into them and what distinguished critical reflection opportunities from other reflective assignments. Based on this analysis, we offer the beginnings of a typology of five approaches to reflection in multicultural and social justice education courses: (a) amorphous “cultural” reflection, (b) personal identity reflection, (c) cultural competence reflection, (d) equitable and just school reflection, and (e) social transformation reflection. We describe the characteristics of each and the role they might play in MSJTE contexts.

scholarly journals Critical Thinking, Bias and Feminist Philosophy: Building a Better Framework through Collaboration

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Dalgleish ◽  
Patrick Girard ◽  
Maree Davies
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Feminist Philosophy ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Radical Feminist ◽  
Double Binds ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Similar Vein ◽  
The Ideal

In the late 20th century theorists within the radical feminist tradition such as Haraway (1988) highlighted the impossibility of separating knowledge from knowers, grounding firmly the idea that embodied bias can and does make its way into argument. Along a similar vein, Moulton (1983) exposed a gendered theme within critical thinking that casts the feminine as toxic ‘unreason’ and the ideal knower as distinctly masculine; framing critical thinking as a method of masculine knowers fighting off feminine ‘unreason’. Theorists such as Burrow (2010) have picked up upon this tradition, exploring the ways in which this theme of overly masculine, or ‘adversarial’, argumentation is both unnecessary and serves as an ineffective base for obtaining truth. Rooney (2010) further highlighted how this unnecessarily gendered context results in argumentative double binds for women, undermining their authority and stifling much-needed diversity within philosophy as a discipline.These are damning charges that warrant a response within critical thinking frameworks. We suggest that the broader critical thinking literature, primarily that found within contexts of critical pedagogy and dispositional schools, can and should be harnessed within the critical thinking literature to bridge the gap between classical and feminist thinkers. We highlight several methods by which philosophy can retain the functionality of critical thinking while mitigating the obstacles presented by feminist critics and highlight how the adoption of such methods not only improves critical thinking, but is also beneficial to philosophy, philosophers and feminists alike.

RAISE IT UP!! Youth Arts and Awareness

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Thomas-Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Youth Engagement ◽  
Literary Arts ◽  
Systemic Oppression ◽  
Creative Self

RAISE IT UP! Youth Arts and Awareness (RIU) is an organization that promotes youth engagement, expression, and empowerment through the use of performance and literary arts and social justice activism. We envision a world where youth are fully recognized, valued, and supported as artist-activists and emerging thought leaders, working to create a world that is just, intersectional, and inclusive. Two fundamental tenets shape RIU’s policies, practices, and pedagogy. The first is that creative self-expression and culture making are powerful tools for personal and social transformation. The second is that social justice is truly possible only if and when we are willing to have transparent and authentic conversations about the oppression children experience at the hands of the adults in their lives. We are committed to amplifying youth voices and leadership and building cross-generational solidarity among people of all ages, particularly those impacted by marginalization. Though RIU is focused on and driven by the youth, a large part of our work includes helping adult family members, educators, and community leaders understand the ways in which systemic oppression shapes our perceptions of and interactions with the young people in our homes, neighborhoods, institutions, and decision-making bodies.

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