A Forward to the Special Issue on Neoliberalism in Education The Long Road to Redemption: Critical Pedagogy and the Struggle for the Future

A Forward to the Special Issue on Neoliberalism in EducationEducatio

Mechanical dissection in an introductory engineering design module

The introductory design module for first year students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde uses mechanical dissection as a focus for learning activities that seek to integrate engineering science with the prior knowledge of the students. First year groups select and remove components from a scrap motor car, and produce a technical description of the system including consideration of function, mechanics, materials and manufacturing processes. Personal and professions skills and interpersonal skills are developed through enquiry based learning. This encourages the students to identify problems and engage in analysis requiring estimation and uncertainty; sourcing information in a critical manner to integrate in their description of the chosen component. Group and communication skills are developed through peer discussion and the presentation of their research in the form of a poster and formal seminar. Student feedback indicates a high level of enjoyment of, and engagement in many of the learning activities. However, focus group interviews and questionnaire responses indicate that the key area of metallurgy has proved to be difficult for many students, probably due to a lack of relevant background knowledge. Further development of the learning activities in metallurgy is planned, including pre-reading and peer instruction to prepare the students for the staff-led materials examination sessions. Continuing evaluation of the learning experiences of the students will be undertaken to assess the effectiveness of these developments

Education as liberation : the Bolivarian alternative Hugo Chavez (1954-2013)

This article pays homage to Hugo Chavez, the former democratically elected Venezuelan leader who passed away earlier in the year. Education played an important part in his anti-colonial political strategy and Bolivarian revolution. Editorial advisory board member, Peter McLaren, a leading critical pedagogue and frequent visitor to Venezuela (he actually met and conversed with Chavez), seemed the obvious choice to write the tribute. In this article, he underlines Chavez political and educational achievements and his standing as a symbol of resistance to western imperialism.peer-reviewe

Open Letter: To Eliott Abrams (U. S. Venezuela Envoy)

An open letter from Peter McLaren to Eliott Abrams, the the Special Representative for Venezuela at the U.S. Department of State. A Spanish translation is available here

Moral Panic, Schooling, and Gay Identity: Critical Pedagogy and the Politics of Resistance

We are living at a time in U.S. cultural history in which the autonomy and dignity of the human spirit is being threatened rather than exercised. What makes it bearable is what is hidden from us, what is repressively desublimated. The current historical juncture is precisely that perilous mixture of historical amnesia and cultural intensity in which society is attempting to reinvent itself without the benefit of knowing who or what it already is

Pushing Boundaries: Peter McLaren on the Importance of Critical Pedagogy Inside and Outside the Classroom

Peter McLaren is Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies and Co-Director and International Ambassador for Global Ethics and Social Justice of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project at Chapman University in the USA. Regarded as one of the leading architects of critical pedagogy, McLaren re-envisions the philosophy of Freire in the context of contemporary issues, including the struggle of the LGBTQ community, racism, and economic inequalities. Research Outreach spoke with McLaren about how critical pedagogy evolved and what he imagines its future to be

Learning Marx in the Podcast Era: A Review of “Reading ‘Capital’ with Comrades”

Karl Marx’s Capital is a book that keeps me going, thinking, organizing, writing, teaching; it’s a book that might even keep me alive. The trenchant analysis, the clarity of the exposition, and most importantly the insights that are crucial to the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism energize me. It’s a book that radically transformed my own life, one that made me move from working toward “social justice” and within “critical pedagogy” to working toward communism and within “revolutionary critical pedagogy,” a praxis I and comrades have been developing for over two decades now. Reading Capital with Comrades, a new Liberation School podcast series — now available on Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms — advances that project in significant ways. It’s an amazing offering to not only revolutionary critical pedagogy and education, but the overall struggle to overthrow the capitalist mode of production and institute a new one that is organized for people and the earth, not for the profits. The class series makes the book incredibly accessible but—and this is an important qualifier—without sacrificing any of the richness of the text

Critical Literacy and Postcolonial Praxis: A Freirian Perspective

This essay examines the relationship among language, experience, and historical agency. It does so in the context of recent work in critical literacy and critical pedagogy. My discussion takes its bearings from the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, described in a recent interview with Carlos Alberto Torres as the prime \u27animateur\u27 for pedagogical innovation and change in the second half of this century (12). In part this essay stands as a poststructuralist and postcolonialist rereading of Freire that, while to a certain extent reinventing his work in light of perspectives selectively culled from contemporary social theory, attempts to remain faithful to the main contours of the Freirian problematic. More specifically, I will draw upon recent feminist and poststructuralist discussions of the relationship between language and experience to highlight some new respects in which the Freirian perspective on literacy may be approached. Doing so may further situate Freire\u27s work as a general theoretical resource enabling educators to locate their own pedagogies between critical thought and emancipatory practice