Rooted in resistance: women teachers constructing counter‐pedagogies in post‐authoritarian Brazil

Abstract

This study focuses upon the narratives of women educators (educadoras) who contributed to radical democratic school reforms in post‐authoritarian Brazil. We illustrate through three of the teachers’ narratives how their professional identities and actions were shaped partly by their experiences of resisting the military regime and by their participation in professional development opportunities that grew from liberatory social movements. Our analysis focuses on their efforts to construct counter‐pedagogies in their disciplines of history, mathematics, and physical education that resisted colonizing, authoritative practices and moved toward more liberatory, humanizing pedagogies. We consider how these counter‐pedagogies reflect both women’s ways of knowing that emphasize dialogue, collaboration, community, and the value of personal knowledge and relationships, as well as feminist principles of consciousness‐raising and social action. This analysis highlights possibilities and challenges of radical democratic reform in education by focusing on the work, experience, and identities of women educators engaged in the day‐to‐day efforts to bring about lasting change.

Keywords:

• theories of teaching
• teacher education policy
• teacher thinking and knowledge
• teacher socialization
• teacher professionalism

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to our participating educadoras for sharing their experiences and insights and we thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback. Our thanks also go to graduate assistant Patrícia Cappuccio of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. This study was supported in part by a Josephine Abney Award from the University of South Carolina Women’s Studies Program.