What Is Critical Pedagogy?

Representatives of critical pedagogy are Paul Freire, Apple, Gintis, Henry A. Gillux, Berry Compaq, Bowers and others. The representative work is The Education of the Oppressed by Paul Freire (East China Normal University Press, 2001 edition).

Critical pedagogy

Critical pedagogy has roughly gone through three stages of development since its inception; its basic understanding is that "education should be political", its basic position is to stand on the side of vulnerable groups, and its basic method is the method of class analysis. Critical pedagogy understands practice as a regulated political activity under the premise of the legitimacy of democratic empowerment. The above characteristics make it inextricably related to other related schools. It can be said that the emergence of critical pedagogy is inevitable and its existence is reasonable, but the road of development cannot be smooth.

The schools of critical pedagogy can be divided into innovative British and American schools and conservative German schools. It was born in the 1970s and is considered to be the most dynamic competitor in the field of education. Critical pedagogy has carried out groundbreaking research in the fields of educational theory, curriculum, and education management. Scholars often comb their ideas from the above perspectives. This article examines critical pedagogy from a methodological perspective as a new research perspective. The schools of critical pedagogy are complex in thought. Based on different ideological and social backgrounds, different schools have different characteristics. However, different schools pursue the criticism and "emancipation" of traditional education, and emphasize the use of critical theory to conduct educational research and analysis through critical research methods. This is a common feature of critical pedagogy in each school. In a sense, the criticality of critical pedagogy is a position, an attitude, a rational pursuit, and even a methodology.

1. Education does not promote social equity, but rather the source of social differences and opposition;

2. Education reproduces the dominant social ideology, culture, and economic structure;

3. Critical pedagogy is to "enlighten" by revealing the interest relationship behind the seemingly normal educational phenomenon, making teachers and students sensitive to their surrounding education environment;

4. Education is never fair. It cannot be studied in a scientific way. It should be studied in an objective and critical way.