<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >

There were classes where teachers just gave me information like the banking model that Freire wrote about in terms of transmitting information within a set of hierarchies where the instructor was the person who knew everything and we were supposed to unquestioningly accept the information.

Nancy presented her frustrations when she said,

In courses where learning was by accommodation, there were very trivial assignments in some of the core classes. An example would be the requirement of writing a reflection at the end of each chapter of the textbook. I found it almost insulting at times. Some of those requirements in the core courses needed to lead to much deeper levels of discourse.

Tricia reported similar sentiments, “I think that ego got in the way of some of the professors because they wanted to be the expert. They had the title, but the title didn’t mean they knew anything really about social and educational justice.”

Sharon discussed the need to conform in order to succeed,

There were other courses where it was almost as if to succeed in the course you had to conform to accepting whatever was in the text, and you couldn’t internalize the content of the text because the methodology was oriented towards the teacher lecturing or transmitting what you needed to know or discussing chapters. … Did those teachers understand social justice?

Frank reiterated sentiments voiced by other participants,

This is a very specialized doctorate, and anyone teaching in the program really should have a background in social justice and andragogy. Some professors do not possess this understanding, and consequently reduce the program to an educational leadership doctorate that is being offered everywhere.

The following indicators described perceptions of transformative teaching through problem-posing. Nancy reported, “There were other courses where I really had to look at my level of consciousness (how am I involved in the process, what happens with this) and it made me question things from childhood to the present day.” Frank said,

There were classes that allowed me to work towards understanding and figuring out the context in terms of who I am … where I came from culturally, and how all of this fits into the larger perspective of how it affects everyone. I don’t think that there has been any educational institution where I had been before that allowed for not understanding or disagreeing in trying to understand without being shut down.

Molly reported the need to be challenged, “The classes that I think were successful in helping us change in a positive way had challenging readings to challenge our thinking, but then the professors challenged us as well.”

Cecilia found that,

There were classes that brought about that deeper level of exploration for the members individually that really would challenge our current thinking. … We would take real case studies where you confronted your own paradox of “this is happening, so how do you address it? … We were constantly challenged with reconsidering what we would have done as a result of the intervening social justice information, theory, or philosophy - of that deeper level of thought that you didn’t have before that required taking on a different point of view.

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, Education leadership review, volume 12, number 1 (april 2011). OpenStax CNX. Mar 26, 2011 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11285/1.2
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'Education leadership review, volume 12, number 1 (april 2011)' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask