Transformative learning, Critical pedagogy, Multicultural education
Today’s activists are challenged by the sheer scope of losses by social movements. We have lost most significant battles and have moved into a defensive position struggling to retain earlier gains in social policy. The gap between rich and poor continues to widen, and it is clear that we need new allies in the struggles for justice. The middle class has been eyed as potential allies, with the hope that in bringing their resources, information, and power to bear, progressive social change will result. This paper draws from dissertation research on a pedagogy for the privileged: research that involves transformative educators with more than five years of experience. It documents one educational strategy to assist in this transformation, that of “tuning in” to the privileged learner. Popular education has provided the framework for emancipatory and transformative education for the last three decades. Its emphasis on reaching marginalized learners has created challenges for adult educators as it does not speak to the experience of educating privileged learners. Hence the search for such a context-specific pedagogy has pragmatic potential for the field of transformative pedagogy.
Curry-Stevens, A. (2003). Pedagogy for the economically privileged: ‘Tuning in’ to the privileged learner. Presented at the Fifth International Transformative Learning Conference at Columbia University.