Seminar 2: Education, critical consciousness and democracy

Tuesday 11 August 7.00 – 8.30pm AEST

Register

In this second seminar, panellists Michael Lawrence (teacher and author of 'Creating Schools Where Teachers and Students Want to Be'), Dr Jacquie Tinkler (teacher, academic, gallery owner and mischief maker), Linno Rhodes (adult literacy expert, life-long learner and trauma aware educator) and Chela Weitzel (teacher, academic and PhD student) explore education as a site for developing critical consciousness, democratic participation and collective agency. Drawing on traditions of critical pedagogy and with a focus on the purpose of public education, panellists will respond to questions about what is needed for education to move beyond compliance and competition toward collective flourishing and ethical responsibility.

Key discussion points:

  • What does it mean to educate for democracy in polarised and unequal times?
  • How might schools cultivate agency rather than compliance?
  • What forms of human thought are currently being marginalised?
  • What role do storytelling, art, poetry and creative expression play in helping young people make sense of crisis and imagine otherwise?
  • What kinds of futures become imaginable when education is organised around care, justice and collective flourishing?

Resources

Belonging through Connection (Othering & Belonging Conference 2015)

Toward a Pedagogy of Educated Hope under Casino Capitalism

On the Histories and Futures of Literacies: An exchange