The six pillars of teaching and learning: Towards pedagogies of risk in P-20 classrooms

Abstract

This case study explored a pedagogical reinvention and extension of Paulo Freire’s popular education approach. To do so, the author drew on interview data with program participants and reflections of his own experiences as one of two adult educators in a yearlong Fellowship program for high school graduates. Relationships, relevance, revolution, recognition, responsiveness, and reflection all emerged as characteristics of teaching and learning within the setting. These emergent themes are presented as a six-pillar framework for liberatory teaching and learning, coined a Pedagogy of Risk. As argued in this study, this pedagogical model may provide educators with a framework useful in creating more liberatory educative spaces that support students’ critical readings and (re)writings of the world.

Keywords:

• Freire
• popular education
• pedagogy
• critical race pedagogy
• justice-centered teaching and learning

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Alexis, Jasmine, Joy, Kaylah, Morgan, and Juvenal for their contributions to this work.

Disclosure statement

It should be noted that I was earning a salary at the research site during the time of data collection. However, I did not do any deep analysis (beyond general hunches) until the conclusion of the program and the end of my employment with the research site. Therefore, I do not have any declarations of competing interests to report.

Notes

1 I use the term educator to capture formal teachers in P-20 (primary through higher education) school settings and informal teachers in out-of-school spaces.2. Megan identified as a white woman.