Critical consciousness as a response to student disengagement: an initial teacher education case study

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we use an engagement framework to understand the experiences of university students midway through their initial teacher education programme. Analysis of interview transcripts revealed that engagement is being influenced negatively by a convergence of political, economic, structural and psychosocial factors. Despite the influence of these converging factors, some students maintained high levels of engagement, while others adopted survival strategies not conducive to deep learning. We argue that one way to deal with disengagement is to support learners to develop critical consciousness, a concept that includes learning agency, learning success, learning well-being and learning social justice.

KEYWORDS:

• Engagement
• pre-service teacher education
• influences
• critical consciousness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Loraine McKay

Dr Loraine McKay is a member of the School of Education and Professional Studies where she is the First Year Coordinator of the Bachelor of Education programme. Her research interests include supporting the resilient engagement of learners including teachers in schools, preservice teachers, children and university academics. Her current research focusses on supporting preservice teachers'  transition into higher education.

Julie Dunn

Professor Julie Dunn is a member of the School of Education and Professional Studies where she is the Program Director of the Master of Secondary Teaching. Julie has a keen interest in play, drama and playfulness within and beyond classroom settings, with her current research being focused on how they might be applied to enhance the pedagogies of educators working in contexts from early childhood centres to university classrooms.