Critical Pedagogy: An Evaluation and a Direction for Reformulation

Abstract

Critical pedagogy, once the prominent new paradigm in educational discourse, is practically absent from it now. Many writers attribute this to its lack of practical consequences. In this article, however, the authors investigate its underlying model of personal identity as an aim of education. This model, with its emphasis on consistency and rationality as a source of human agency, is a typical product of the “modern” way of thinking. In the light of the discussion of postmodernity, it can no longer be taken for granted. It is suggested that another model, based on a discursive theory of identity along Vygotskian lines, may present more adequate possibilities for specifying the aims of education. One aspect of critical pedagogy should not be lost, however, that is, its emphasis on the political nature of education and the necessity of an ethical discourse about its aims.