This is the third post in a three part series to better understand common pedagogical approaches. The “Tale of Three Pedagogies” series is part of my 2015 Tri-Association Conference presentation called New Learning Now! and inspired by University of Illinois’s online master’s program in Learning Design and Leadership: New Learning.

See related posts in series:  Didactic Pedagogy and Authentic Pedagogy.

Transformative pedagogy is the pedagogy for what Kalantzis and Cope call “New Learning” or learning for the knowledge era. The knowledge era describes the society and workforce of the twenty-first century where computing devices bring information to people’s fingertips and where knowledge, and what workers can do with it, drives the economy and determines its destiny (Kalantzis and Cope, 2012). The knowledge era demands a completely different skill set of workers than the industrial era. The workforce is “upskilling” and requires high levels of literacy, communication skills, problem-solving skills, technology skills, and the ability to work in teams (OECD, 2012). Transformative pedagogy aims to develop the skills and worker competencies necessary for the knowledge era.

The knowledge era demands very different worker competencies than the industrial era. (Image credit: Kalantzis and Cope, 2012)

The knowledge era demands very different worker competencies than the industrial era. (Image credit: Kalantzis and Cope, 2012)

Transformative pedagogy is an activist pedagogy that has elements of social constructivism and critical pedagogy (Ukpokodua, 2009). Social constructivism contends that learning occurs when students actively construct knowledge in a social environment. Critical pedagogy seeks to give students the tools to transform their life chances, to strengthen democracy, and to create a more just society. So in a transformative learning environment, students actively and collaboratively construct knowledge. Teachers and learners maintain more lateral relationships where they are investigating, learning, and problem solving side by side. Students are challenged to critically reflect on their beliefs, values, and assumptions. They search for deep meaning in text and media to analyze the beliefs, values, and assumptions of others in order to understand diverse perspectives in today’s globalized society. Students have agency, where they are expected to play an active role in making the world a better place.

Transformative pedagogy expects students to be active knowledge produces rather than passive knowledge consumers. (Image credit: Cope & Kalantzis)

Transformative pedagogy expects students to be active knowledge produces rather than passive knowledge consumers. (Image credit: Cope & Kalantzis)

The ideals of transformative pedagogy originate in part from Brazil’s Paulo Freire. Freire, like Dewey and Montessori (see Authentic Pedagogy), refuted the theoretical underpinnings of didactic pedagogy. Freire viewed education as a liberating and problem-posing process, rather than a process of banking information. Here he compares and contrasts these two perspectives:

“Banking education … attempts, by mythicizing reality, to conceal certain facts which explain the way [people] exist in the world [such as the facts of power and inequality]; problem-posing education sets itself the task of de-mythologizing. Banking education resists dialogue; problem-posing education regards dialogue as indispensable to the act of cognition which unveils reality. Banking education treats students as objects of assistance; problem-posing education makes them critical thinkers. Banking education inhibits creativity and domesticates… Problem-posing education bases itself on creativity and stimulates true reflection and action upon reality.”

Paulo Freire, an early advocate for a pedagogy that would go beyond banking information to help students transform their world. (Image credit: O Cafezinho, 2015)

Transformative pedagogy, then, is similar to authentic pedagogy in the belief that education is supposed to be more than filling a student’s head with facts. It is similar to authentic pedagogy in its constructivism and its student-centered learning. It differs from authentic pedagogy, though, in that it deliberately aims to strengthen democracy, change social conditions, and transform students’ life chances (Cope, 2015).

If the role of the teacher in didactic pedagogy is the sage on the stage and if the role of the teacher in authentic pedagogy is the guide on the side, then the role of the teacher in transformative pedagogy is the meddler in the middle. By taking on this role, the teacher strategically mediates content and scaffolds students’ learning experiences. This creates a balance between the two extremes of didactic and authentic pedagogy.

In summary, transformative pedagogy responds to the needs of society and the workforce of the knowledge era, where technology brings information to one’s fingertips and the task is to filter it, analyze it, and do something with it. It focuses on knowledge era demands such as high levels of literacy, communication skills, problem-solving skills, technology skills, and collaboration skills. Transformative pedagogy blends ideals of social constructivism and critical pedagogy. It aligns with Freire’s perspectives on an education that liberates where children “deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world” (1972). This pedagogical approach supports diverse learners and grapples with democratic issues. It enables learners to do their best under any social condition and empowers them to transform their life chances. In this learning environment, students are charged with the task of making the world (their world) a better place.

References:

Cope, B. (2015). Introduction to three pedagogical paradigms [CG Scholar Update]. Retrieved from https://cgscholar.com/community/community_profiles/eps-431-new-learning-2015/community_updates/23137

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. [Image]. Retrieved from http://newlearningonline.com/

Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed (pp. 45–46, 52–53, 56–57). Retrieved from http://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-2/paulo-freire-on-education-that-liberates

Honeycutt, K. (2015, August 20). Meddler in the middle [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z225FRJIXE

Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

O Cafezinho. (2015, July 29). Paulo Freire [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.ocafezinho.com/2015/07/29/brasil-nunca-aplicou-paulo-freire-diz-pesquisador/

OECD. (2001). Competencies for the knowledge economy. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/innovation/research/1842070.pdf

Ukpokodu, O. (2009). The practice of transformative pedagogy. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 20(2), 43-67.