Positive freedom: an exploration of pedagogical citizenship

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Charles Bradford Griggs (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
H. Svi Shapiro

Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the pedagogical attempt to teach for citizenship in the public school setting. Using the tools of critical/ liberatory pedagogy the critical scholar embarked on a discovery of the foundations of his pedagogical practice, by exploring his subject stance while teaching with a democratic mindset. This dissertation proposes that there is a crisis of democratic citizenship in this country. The crisis is due to forces of oppression and is exacerbated by the lack of democratic practice in schools and society. By uncovering the techniques inherent in critical pedagogy and the free school movement the dissertation seeks to place the subject/ researcher within the mental context of liberation while engaged in a systematic autobiographical record of his teaching practices. From this autobiographic stance the researcher will reflect upon his own teaching and understandings as they are presented. The findings indicate that liberatory/ critical pedagogy is a difficult practice and creates tensions within the authoritarian bodies that control schooling. The research also suggests that democracy is only an abstract concept in schooling and cannot be practiced in traditional public school settings. The original premise of the research, that there is a "crisis of democratic citizenship" and part of that crisis is due to the lack of practice in schools, is advanced by this dissertation.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2010
Keywords
Critical, Curriculum, Democracy, Foundations, Teaching
Subjects
Citizenship.
Democracy and education.
Critical pedagogy.
Critical thinking.
Critical thinking in children.
Transformative learning.
Free schools.
Student government.
Educational sociology.

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