Page 71 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 71
a. mladenović ■ feminist classrooms in practice
- its materials: What are acceptable learning materials? Is literature
the only valid learning source? How can personal interpretations
and experiences of social phenomena enrich teaching and learning
environments? and;
- its goals: Is learning enough or is there a need to apply the acquired
knowledge in day-to-day life via social action?
The transformative power of feminist pedagogy is seen in the efforts
to create teaching and learning experiences that aim to overthrow the
status quo, by asking alternative questions regarding human experience.
Feminist pedagogy thus requires a major shift in perspective (Forrest &
Rosenberg, 1997). “As feminist teachers attempt to transform educational
institutions, they are restructuring their classrooms with the guidance of
feminist principles,” as Linda Forrest and Freda Rosenberg note (ibid., p.
183). They recognise six broad categories of feminist commitment to edu-
cational transformation in their literature review:
- integrating educational dichotomies;
- rethinking power and authority;
- creating communal classrooms;
- respecting diversity;
- integrating the knowledge of personal experience; and
- incorporating social action (ibid., p. 184).
Keeping all that in mind, one of the main goals of feminist peda-
gogy, characterised by engaged teaching and learning, is to create the
classroom as a liberatory environment in which, as Shrewsbury (1987, p.
6) notes, “we, teacher–student and student–teacher, act as subjects, not
objects”. This goes hand in hand with another tenet of feminist pedago-
gy: resistance to hierarchical structures. In the learning environment, the
teacher and students work against the creation of a hierarchy of authori-
ty. One way to resist hierarchy is by empowering students to deliver their
own content and influence the design of the class (Lawrence, 2016). The
goal of such classrooms is that all members learn to respect each other’s
differences by building on the participants’ experiences in a participatory,
democratic process in which at least some power is shared (Shrewsbury,
1987, pp. 6–7). This environment is active, not passive, it enables students
to take risks and supports values of working together as well as achieving
both shared and individual goals. It promotes the application of critical
thinking as a reflective process grounded in experiences, while respect-
ing and working with others (ibid., p. 7). Feminist pedagogy strives to cre-
ate a community “where there is both autonomy of self and mutuality
69
- its materials: What are acceptable learning materials? Is literature
the only valid learning source? How can personal interpretations
and experiences of social phenomena enrich teaching and learning
environments? and;
- its goals: Is learning enough or is there a need to apply the acquired
knowledge in day-to-day life via social action?
The transformative power of feminist pedagogy is seen in the efforts
to create teaching and learning experiences that aim to overthrow the
status quo, by asking alternative questions regarding human experience.
Feminist pedagogy thus requires a major shift in perspective (Forrest &
Rosenberg, 1997). “As feminist teachers attempt to transform educational
institutions, they are restructuring their classrooms with the guidance of
feminist principles,” as Linda Forrest and Freda Rosenberg note (ibid., p.
183). They recognise six broad categories of feminist commitment to edu-
cational transformation in their literature review:
- integrating educational dichotomies;
- rethinking power and authority;
- creating communal classrooms;
- respecting diversity;
- integrating the knowledge of personal experience; and
- incorporating social action (ibid., p. 184).
Keeping all that in mind, one of the main goals of feminist peda-
gogy, characterised by engaged teaching and learning, is to create the
classroom as a liberatory environment in which, as Shrewsbury (1987, p.
6) notes, “we, teacher–student and student–teacher, act as subjects, not
objects”. This goes hand in hand with another tenet of feminist pedago-
gy: resistance to hierarchical structures. In the learning environment, the
teacher and students work against the creation of a hierarchy of authori-
ty. One way to resist hierarchy is by empowering students to deliver their
own content and influence the design of the class (Lawrence, 2016). The
goal of such classrooms is that all members learn to respect each other’s
differences by building on the participants’ experiences in a participatory,
democratic process in which at least some power is shared (Shrewsbury,
1987, pp. 6–7). This environment is active, not passive, it enables students
to take risks and supports values of working together as well as achieving
both shared and individual goals. It promotes the application of critical
thinking as a reflective process grounded in experiences, while respect-
ing and working with others (ibid., p. 7). Feminist pedagogy strives to cre-
ate a community “where there is both autonomy of self and mutuality
69
