Relational Pedagogy and Democratic Education (original) (raw)
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Relational Pedagogy, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education
and Keywords One could easily argue that the pedagogy of relation is not new: a genealogy of the approach would send us back to the ancient Greek philosophers. However, in recent years relational pedagogy has been taken up in novel and ever-deepening ways. It is a response to ongoing efforts at school reform that center on teacher and administrator accountability, based on a constraining view of education as the effective teaching of content. In this view, methods, curricula, and high-stakes testing overshadow the human relationship between teacher and student that relational pedagogy theorists place at the center of educational exchanges. When relationships are secondary to content, the result can be disinterested or alienated students and teachers who feel powerless to step outside the mandated curriculum of their school district. Offering an alternative vision of pedagogy in a troubling era of teacher accountability, contemporary relational theorists take inspiration from a range of philosophical writings. This article focuses on those whose work is informed by the concept of caring, as developed by Nel Noddings, with the critical perspective of Paulo Freire, or the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas. Although these approaches to ethical educational relations do not necessarily mesh together easily, the tensions among them can bear fruit that informs our pedagogy. Each student-teacher relationship is a unique pedagogical space: it is a one-on-one teaching situation, a partnership of sorts, that can lead to learning exchanges that enliven both individuals. However, in the United States, ongoing efforts at school reform and a culture of teacher and administrator accountability take a limited view of pedagogy as the effective teaching of mandated content. This approach is particularly troubling in an era of deeply inequitable educational access, resources, and outcomes that disproportionately affect the poor and students of color. Further, student demographics
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, 2023
One could easily argue that the pedagogy of relation is not new: a genealogy of the approach would send us back to the ancient Greek philosophers. However, in recent years relational pedagogy has been taken up in novel and everdeepening ways. It is a response to ongoing efforts at school reform that center on teacher and administrator
Relational Democracy Charlotte Haines Lyon, Doctoral Researcher, York St John Presented at Education, social theory and social justice: the challenge of theorising alternatives futures. 14th September, BERA 2016 Convenor: Prof John Schostak Discussant: Prof Matthew Clarke In his book School and Society, Dewey wrote “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy” (2013: 19). In this paper by way of context, I will argue that the definition of the “best and wisest parent” is being increasingly instrumentalised, effectively side-lining and silencing parents’ voices in education. If we are to strive towards a more socially just education system, then parent’s voices must not just be heard, but have agency as Couldry argues (2010).
2007 AEL: Leading Relational Pedagogy
Viewing teaching and learning through a pedagogic rather than instructional lens gives a broader view of the real work of teachers and school leaders. Relational pedagogy builds on the strong emphasis of the importance of relationships already embedded in the concept of pedagogy and then equips the learners to become partners in their own social/interpersonal education.
Democratic Education: A Theoretical Review (2006-2017
Review of Educational Research, 2019
This theoretical review examines how democratic education is conceptualized within educational scholarship. Three hundred and seventy-seven articles published in English language peer-reviewed journals between 2006 and 2017 are discursively analyzed. Democratic education functions as a privileged nodal point of different political discourses. Two discourses against (elitist and neoliberal) and six discourses pro democratic education (liberal, deliberative, multiculturalist, participatory, critical, and agonistic) construct its meaning. It is argued that the different versions of democratic education respond to various (a) ontological and epistemological assumptions, (b) nor-mative approaches to democracy, and (c) conceptions of the relationship between education and politics. For educational policy, the review provides a critique of elitist and neoliberal policies and support for participatory decision making across discourses. Recommendations for educational practice are made by identifying pedagogies across democratic education scholarship as well as specific pedagogies for each discourse.