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Thomas Jones
Critical Pedagogy

Critical Pedagogy is a radical teaching theory which aims to prompt students to develop a deep
understanding of social issues. Critical Pedagogy has been developed over the past 20 years by
many influential academics, perhaps most notably Freire and Giroux. The first part of the
following essay will discuss Critical Pedagogy, including its purpose, a framework for its
implementation, and its link to the AITSL standards. The latter half of this paper will be made
up of a lesson plan, which aims to demonstrate how Critical Pedagogy can be implemented to
tackle Indigenous issues in the classroom.

Critical Pedagogy is a teaching strategy which provides a radical alternative to traditional

conservative or liberal teaching styles. Advocates for Critical Pedagogy have criticized
traditional styles of education for their complicity in maintaining social inequalities. Giroux
states; “Classrooms too often function as modes of social, political, and cultural reproduction,
particularly when the goals of education are defined through the promise of economic growth,
job training, and mathematical utility. In the context of reproduction, pedagogy is largely
reduced to a transmission model of teaching and limited to the propagation of a culture of
conformity and the passive absorption of knowledge.” (2011). This statement is an accurate
depiction of issues within contemporary education. Freire makes similar criticisms to those of
Giroux, referring to traditional education as a banking system, where teachers are the bankers
of knowledge, and deposit knowledge with students (1970). Freire identifies an important issue
here. In this mode of education, teachers are viewed as an authoritarian figure and an individual
whose knowledge and ideas are undoubtedly correct. Students within this system accept
knowledge passively, being only able to memorize (maybe) and repeat information. Learning
in such a way offers no opportunity for transfer and therefore no practical application of
learning. Critical Pedagogy on the contrary, prompts students to dig deeper into social issues.
In doing so students must question, they must encounter and process a wide range of
perspectives. In doing so, learners can begin to identify their own roles within structures and
social issues, in turn fostering consciousness and agency. It is hoped that by developing deep
understanding and allowing students to identify their own position within social issues, they
will be able think about resisting; which the ultimate goal of Critical Pedagogy.

Critical Pedagogy is broad and ambitious. It is difficult to base entire units of work around
critical pedagogies. It is useful to use frameworks to outline lesson plans. This paragraph will
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discuss a framework for critical pedagogy, recommended by Brougham (1994). The latter half
of this paper will provide a more in depth, practical application within the framework.
Brougham identifies four steps that must be taken in implementing critical pedagogy;
Identifying the social justice Issue, exploring the causes, resisting the issue, reflection.

The first phase is identification of a social issue. Brougham recommends presenting the issue
initially, from the perspective of those who resist. The process of critical pedagogy can be
confronting for students, as it asks them to think deeply about issues and in doing so realise
their own standing within these structures. Because of this, during the identification phase it is
imperative that teachers avoid presenting any information that induces either victimhood or
guilt (Brougham, 1994). Initiation can most effectively be used through resources such as
stories, plays, films and poems (Brougham, 1994).

In identifying the causes of the issues being explored, it is necessary to prompt students to
discuss their own ideas about the causes and to allow time to reflect on these opinions as they
go. An important realisation, which students should be prompted to think about, is that most of
our opinions and thoughts are influenced by external sources. We can challenge this by
prompting students to track their thoughts backwards, and to think critically about where their
thoughts originated (Brougham, 1994).

The final steps are taking action and reflection; they should be carried out by the students as
much as possible. Students are prompted to contact community groups to discuss issues and to
implement resistance strategies. Allowing students to be autonomous fosters advocacy and
agency. In reflection, students get the valuable and necessary opportunity to reflect on how
their thought patterns changed, and what they could do differently and more effectively. This
framework which has been laid out, provides a way in which teachers can plan effective lessons
within the realm of critical pedagogy. Furthermore, it is effective due to its progression, which
allows students to work through complex issues in a linear fashion, where thoughts can be built
upon and developed as they pass through its content (Brougham, 1994).

To finish this section of the paper, critical pedagogy, and more specifically within the
framework provided will be discussed in relation to the relevant AITSL standards; 1.4 and 2.4.
The standards themselves, are in short; understanding the impact of culture on education and
having strategies to account for, and secondly, promoting reconciliation between Indigenous
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and non-Indigenous peoples respectively (AITSL, 2018). The aims and outcomes of critical
pedagogy cover both standards, and arguably go further. In the first phase of initiation to a
social issue, students are made aware of a social issue. Using cultural artefacts as resources,
for example dreaming stories, or art works, is a step which is useful in the initiation process of
the framework, and in doing so students can begin to interpret, understand, and build a respect
for Indigenous culture and traditions. Step three of the framework goes into AITSL standard
2.4 in great depth as it requires students to develop an understanding of their role within issues
and to take a resistance action. In summary, critical pedagogy approaches to indigenous
education are best practise ways to implement these AITSL standards into the classroom.

Critical pedagogy, although an optimistic approach, is an effective way to approach Indigenous

education, and fosters students to develop deep understanding, and agency. Broughams
framework provides us with a useful way to plan lessons and implement a critical pedagogy
approach.
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Reference List

ACARA, (2018) History, The Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-
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+ Skills&capability

AITSL, Teacher Standards. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards.

Brougham, BL (1994), 'Structure of the draft model', in BL Brougham (ed), Teaching for resistance:
report of the Education for Social Justice Research Project, Texts in Humanities and the Centre for
Studies in Educational Leadership, Adelaide, SA., pp.34-43.

Friere, P (1970) in Aliakbari, M. and Faraji, E. (2011). Basic Principles of Critical Pedagogy. 2nd
International Conference on Humanities, Historical and Social Sciences, 17, pp.77-78.

Giroux, H. (2011). On critical pedagogy (Critical pedagogy today series). London: Continuum


National Museum Australia, (2018). Encounters, Indigenous Cultures and Contact History: A
Classroom Resource. Retrieved from http://www.nma.gov.au/learn/encounters_education/map.

Rigney, D, (2018). Critical Pedagogy In Community Context. Lecture notes distributed in the topic
EDUC2420 Teaching Indigenous Australian Students, Flinders University, Bedford Park, 03
September.