Critical approaches to pedagogy

We have talked about key terms, models and elements of global education. Now that we have looked at these more practical aspects, the next step is to explore some of the theory that underpins global education practice. In particular, it’s important to consider the kinds of pedagogical approaches which can best support global education.

Within the field of global education there are a number of important discussions and debates about the kinds of pedagogical approaches that can best support learners, often drawing on the work of key educational theorists such as Paulo Freire, John Dewey, Gayatri Spivak, Mahatma Gandhi and Henri Giroux (see, for example, Bourn 2014; Kumar 2008; Andreotti 2006).

Central to these discussions of pedagogy in global education is a focus on teaching approaches that encourage critical engagement with global issues. This might include ways of challenging stereotypes of diverse communities (either locally, nationally or internationally), encouraging understanding and valuing of diverse cultures and ways of life, and critiquing issues of power and inequality in global relationships. Perhaps of particular importance is the need to recognise the historical relationships between nations and diverse cultural groups, and the impacts that these continue to have on global relationships in the contemporary world (see, for example, Odora Hoppers 2015 on indigenous knowledges in Africa; and Tallon 2012 on the issue of stereotypes in NGO educational programmes).

*To access any of the readings cited above, see the list of additional readings provided in step 2.15.