Resisting Neoliberalism from within the Academy: Subversion through an Activist Pedagogy

Abstract

Teaching and learning in the neoliberal academy means that educators in non-market-oriented departments, such as social work, face several constraints and challenges when trying to implement an anti-oppressive, social justice focused curriculum. This article considers challenges that can arise with an introductory social work course in the current context of neoliberalism, especially when open to both social work and non-social work students. With a particular focus on larger class sizes, the use of precarious labour and the depoliticization of the classroom, the authors use an inductive, reflective approach to analyse observations made about shifts in the behaviour and engagement of students in the course. The authors surmise possible explanations for these shifts, considering changes made to the substantive content and pedagogical practices of the course. Through this process the authors propose that these changes represent an ‘activist pedagogy’ which may offer potential for anti-oppressive education with students both inside and outside social work. As such, the authors propose ‘activist pedagogy’ as a possible way to resist and subvert the neoliberal educational paradigm and to better integrate the principles and practices of social justice and anti-oppressive social work into the classroom.

Keywords::

• anti-oppression
• activist pedagogy
• neoliberal academy
• social work education
• teaching

Notes

^[1] Our understanding of activist pedagogy emerges from a unique intersection between the traditions of progressive education and anti-oppressive principles, within an action-oriented stance of social work. While others have used this or similar terms (see Anderson, 1997), it is our definition that informs this paper and our other work.