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Critical Education Practice involves the implementation of critical theories in a range of educational settings. It involves linking educational systems to real-world experiences and struggles through the exercise of critical pedagogies that seek to transform social conditions towards greater equity and justice and at the same time to conscientise students to the worlds of suffering that exist in the real world. Critical Practice in Education is demanding, democratic, reflective and difficult. It requires a serious commuitment to social change. The critical education practitioner sides with the oppressed and marginalised in society and establishes ways of linking education to the alleviation of their suffering. Most teachers have grown up and been educated in a system that they have come to believe is basically good, if flawed. It comes as something of a shock to realise that perhaps this isn't the case, and that perhaps the education system is actually designed to create a class of failures, to maintain the social, political and economic hierarchies that exist in everyday life. Critical education theory and practice looks beyond the superficial, taken for granted explanations of how and why the system is not working, and instead interrogates the cultural politics of education to reveal disparities of perception and expectation between the educators and the educated. The process of addressing these disparities is not easy, but if we want to work towards a more just and equitable society it must be done. I have worked for more than 30 years as a critical educator, a facilitator and a critical practitioner. I have been privileged in that time to have worked alongside and been influenced by a number of prominsnt critical theorists and critical pedagogues. Through them, I have witnessed innumerable and deeply moving instances of critical work in which educators have struggled to develop transformative practices in the classroom that also connect themselves and their students with the groups of marginalised and oppressed for whom education has previously been a dismal experience if not a social, cultural and economic trap. In this section of the website, I will attempt to share some of these examples and experiences with you the reader Using the field of Architectural Design as a key, issues within these fields are unlocked. The list of Critical Practice and Critical Theory examples is being augmented all the time. They demonstrate the application of Critical Thinking in different ways and in different disciplines. Some of the examples are from my own studio classroom. Others are from colleagues and goiod friends who work tirelessly in the interests of greaterr social justice and equity. If you have further examples of Critical Practice you will be able to include them on this site to support other Critical practitioners. Please contact me. If you would like to access a broader description of the theoretical base of Critical Practice and to download a supporting PDF click here.
There is also a Glossary available for key definitions of the terms and concepts of Critical Practice. It is possible to augment this Glossary with further examples and explanations of the complex and confusing terminologies and meanings of the field.
There are also a number of downloadable PDFs available on instances of Critical Practice. These PDFs provide an excellent Primer to the subject for students and teachers coming to the subject for the first time, offering clear definitions, descriptions of key concepts and a broad analysis of the cultural and social significance of the subject. To access these click here
If you are interested in organising a student-centred training Workshop on Critical Theory or Critical Practice click here. Alternatively, if you would like to be part of an ongoing discussion group regarding Critical Theory or Critical practice click here. |
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