Teaching in America

Critical Pedagogy

In your experience in education, describe a situation where you have seen aspects of critical pedagogy employed.

Peter McLaren talks of the hidden curriculum in schools, where certain messages are implicitly transmitted to pupils through the classroom organization, pedagogical procedures and rules of conduct (amongst other aspects) promoted in schools. McLaren warns of the dangers of the hidden curriculum conveying sexist, class or culturally bias ideals to students, and that "no curriculum, policy or program is ideologically or politically innocent" (p.213) therefore it is important that teachers the power they hold upon shaping young people's views and beliefs.

When confronted with the idea of a hidden curriculum, I found it hard to identify this within my own education; political, social and cultural ideals are inextricably linked to education that it is difficult to tease these influnces out. Streaming by ability has been an aspect of my school life, so imbedded that I have never questioned the motives behind it. From the age of 10 I was assigned a class in the core subjects of Engish, Maths and Science (even by defining these subjects in such a way is another example of how economy influences the knowledge that is deemed vital for all) based on my performance in standardized tests (SATs) and yearly examinations designed by my school. Furthermore, often performance in these examinations were not an accurate reflection of one's understanding but rather the amount of information and facts one was able to memorize and retain. Nevertheless, these formed the criteria for which pupils were organized into ability groups and the level of examination paper pupils would be entered for at GCSE - the highest grade the lowest level group would be able to achieve being a C grade. 

I think that the underlying message that such a system conveys is that only certain types of skills are valuable in British society, and in addition, I believe that the skills that are promoted are linked to economic performance. By streaming young people at school, the system is preparing them for different pathways in the future. The underlying function of such a strategy may be to ensure that there is a balance of highly and less skilled workers. This links with the social reproducation theory which we also discussed in class. 

For me, the system of streaming was not detrimental to my aspirations or limited the opportunities that have been open to me because fortunately I was not placed in a lower set. I also believe that this system is not so rigid that people cannot improve and pass up through the sets, however what the system does produce is competitiveness, whereby only those who have a strong desire to succeed will do so. Unfortunately, for the majority who are passive, they accept the educational opportunities they have been assigned and in turn, the employment opportunities (or lack of) which are open to them.