SOCIALLY JUST PEDAGOGIES: TOWARDS PARTICIPATORY PARITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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Located in Nancy Fraser’s theory of participatory parity, this feminist qualitative study investigated how higher education pedagogies could be alert to students’ diverse and challenging contexts, draw on situated knowledges and lived experiences, and ignite a desire to tackle injustices and contribute to social change. The research site was two gender studies courses at UWC. Analysis of data showed the value of centering students’ lives and opening these up for dialogue and debate. Through theory, lectures and conversations, the pedagogies challenged students to see how they were both products of and implicated in reproducing injustices, fostering social activism for some. The study shows that teaching can raise awareness of and interrogate injustices to contribute to social transformation.
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... 2 This article offers snapshots of findings from this study and offers breadth rather than depth of vision. For more detail, see Gredley (2020Gredley ( , 2022. ...
How and to what extent can pedagogies in higher education work towards disrupting injustices and promoting participatory parity for students? This article emerges from a doctoral study which explored this question through investigating the pedagogies of two undergraduate modules in the Women’s and Gender Studies department at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. These modules draw on feminist and multimodal pedagogies and participatory learning and action techniques in seeking ways of disrupting conventional divides between activism and the academy to promote alternative forms of knowledge production. This article indicates that consistently centring and drawing on students’ lives and prior knowledges, connecting these to theory, and opening these up for dialogue and debate among differently positioned peers promotes students’ awareness of and insights into injustices stemming from hegemonic norms. Using students’ own contexts and diverse prior knowledges and lived experiences allows the development of critical thinking skills necessary to think beyond entrenched, essentialised norms and enables students to see how they are both products of and implicated in reproducing injustices. Sharing these moments of awareness, agency and activism in the classroom is a necessary first step in developing graduates who are committed to promoting social justice.
... Deur feministiese metodologieë te gebruik om skoolkurrikulums te ontleed, kan opvoeders die geslagsnorme en waardes wat geweld laat voortduur, identifiseer en uitdaag (Bailey, Bester, De Beer, Dudu, Golightly, Havenga, Jagals, Laubscher, Le Grange, Mdakane en Mentz 2019). Opvoeders kan ook alternatiewe kurrikulums ontwikkel wat niegewelddadige konflikoplossing bevorder en geslagstereotipes uitdaag Gredley 2022). ...
... Separation and differences cause much conflict to arise with the 'poor' fighting for equality for all , and the rich fighting to maintain their prestigious position within society as technology and online increases (Johnstone, 2022). This positions the relationship between 4IR, students, university teachers, and online teaching and learning unequally, and it brings to bear the founding fathers of the sociological conflict theory (Gredley, 2022). Put differently, the relationship between the lecturer and the student is important to frame around the lens of caring for the whole individual student in the online space, because making sure the needs of the person being cared for are satisfied is the definition of caring and the associated moral component of competence, however difficult it may seem (Feldman, 2020). ...
Making the most of online or hybrid teaching platforms is essential to making sure that, in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), higher education settings in developing universities and places are not left behind. While a number of the technological platforms adopted during the Covid-19 lockdown have the potential to reach more kids, they have also overloaded educators and pupils. Therefore, it seems ironic that the same technology that makes it possible for higher education to offer online courses also frequently impedes student progress and places restrictions on the pedagogy of teachers. Regardless of format, the teaching and learning encounter should not come at the expense of caring for the actual student in the ever-changing hybrid teaching model that most tertiary institutions have since adopted. Therefore, the interest of this article is on how ‘care pedagogies’ might improve online teaching and learning at developing universities. In this sense, the role of university teachers should be reflected not only by the number of students engaged in class content, but also by the embodied cultural capital that students bring to online, face-to-face and hybrid learning spaces.
... Feministiese pedagogie poog om 'n meer inklusiewe en billike leeromgewing te skep deur aktief kwessies van mag, voorreg en onderdrukking aan te spreek en deur die stemme van gemarginaliseerde individue en gemeenskappe te bevorder (Currier 2022;Gredley 2022). Hierdie benadering behels dikwels die gebruik van samewerkende en uitdagende patriargale opvoedkundige praktyke en ruimtes (Schoeman 2015; Ahmed 2019). ...
Opsomming Hierdie artikel is ’n konseptuele dokument wat die toenemende geslagsongelykheid in die postdemokrasie Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysomgewing ondersoek. Ek argumenteer dat terme/frases soos feministiese pedagogiek, gelyke kanse en gelyke toegang vir vroue in onderwyspraktyke en ‑ruimtes nie bloot leë frases moet wees nie, maar verstaan moet word as die aftakeling van ongelykheid met betrekking tot ruimtes en praktyke in onderwys om meisies en jong vroue in staat te stel om hul doel in die lewe te vind en hul loopbaanambisies te verwesenlik deur gelyke geleenthede in onderwyspraktyke en -ruimtes te skep. Die konstruksie van transformasionele verandering met gelykheid vir almal as die riglyn lei nie noodwendig tot geslagsgelykheid nie. Hierdie artikel ondersoek krities die insluiting van geslagskwessies wat dikwels in die onderwys deur ’n postkoloniale feministiese lens misgekyk word, as ’n manier om opvoedkundige ruimtes en praktyke te verander met betrekking tot ongelykhede waaraan vroue steeds blootgestel word. Resultate toon dat gemarginaliseerde stemme (dié van wit en swart vroue en LGBTQI+-persone) in ag geneem moet word wanneer opvoedkundige praktyke en ruimtes geskep word en diegene in magsposisies (patriargie) wat steeds as hekwagters optree, moet uitdaag. Trefwoorde: Afrika; aftakeling; dekolonialisering van onderwys; feministiese pedagogiek; koloniale en postkoloniale onderwysstelsels; opvoedkundige ongelykhede; praktyke en ruimtes; Suid-Afrika; verandering
This study investigates the relevance of violence in the context of South African education, a country which has a history of institutionalised violence against the oppressed, including women. Using a feminist pedagogy as a theoretical lens, violence and its implications for the South African educational system are examined. Scholars such as Freire believe that in order to engage the topic of violence in education, it needs to be framed not only from a physical, but also from a structural and symbolic way since violence is deeply rooted in social inequalities and power imbalances. Violence can be perpetuated through education, which can reproduce dominant ideologies and structures which are biased against women. Therefore, Freire advocates a pedagogical approach that challenges violence and empowers students to become critical agents of social change. In the South African educational environment, violence is a prevalent issue, especially for women and girls who face high rates of gender-based violence and sexual harassment in schools. This research also examines the relevant legal frameworks and policies in South Africa that address gender-based violence and education. This research proposes a feminist pedagogy can help create safe and empowering learning environments that promote social justice and equality.
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