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Critical Pedagogy
Critical pedagogy is an approach to education that sees teaching as inherently political. It begins with the idea that schools do not simply transmit facts or skills—they shape how children understand power, identity, and possibility. Originating in the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, critical pedagogy asks us to examine how systems of oppression—such as racism, colonialism, patriarchy, and capitalism—are embedded in educational practices, and how we might resist them.
Freire called for education that was dialogical, reflective, and rooted in the lived experience of the learner. He opposed what he termed the “banking model” of education, in which teachers deposit knowledge into passive students. Instead, he envisioned pedagogy as a practice of liberation: a shared inquiry between teacher and student, in which both are transformed.
In early childhood, critical pedagogy invites us to question developmental norms, surveillance, standardized assessments, and imposed behavioral expectations. It challenges the idea of “readiness” and asks: Ready for what, and on whose terms?
How It’s Understood (and Used)
Critical pedagogy is most commonly encountered in higher education, social justice education, and community organizing. In early childhood, it’s less mainstream—but growing. Educators inspired by this approach might:
- Question whose stories are told in the classroom
- Resist compliance-based behavior systems
- Create space for multiple ways of knowing, including Indigenous, Black, queer, and decolonial perspectives
- Foster dialogue rather than correction
- See children as political beings—capable of questioning, resisting, and imagining new ways of being together
Critical pedagogy is often misunderstood as simply “teaching about injustice,” but it is deeper than content. It’s about how we teach, who decides what matters, and whether our classroom relationships mirror the liberatory values we claim to hold.
It is also sometimes resisted because it can feel disruptive or uncomfortable. But discomfort, in this context, is part of learning—it’s a sign that something hidden is being revealed.
How It Relates to My Approach
While my daily work is rooted in presence, play, and relationship, critical pedagogy shapes the questions I ask beneath the surface:
- Who gets to decide what is “normal” behavior?
- Why do we praise some forms of language or knowledge and correct others?
- How do materials, language, and structure reflect or resist systems of power?
I don’t frame my work for young children as “critical” in the academic sense. But I see pedagogy as ethical and political. I notice whose voices are centered. I use documentation to reflect on power. I resist control when I can. Critical pedagogy gives me language for things I’ve always felt: that even the smallest interactions carry values—and that another way is always possible.
References
- Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed
- hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to Transgress
- Cannella, G. S. (1997). Deconstructing Early Childhood Education
- Swadener, B. B. et al. (Eds.) (2016). Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Care and Education
- Leonardo, Z. (2004). Critical Social Theory and Transformative Knowledge
Glossary
- Critical Pedagogy – An approach to teaching that examines and challenges power, oppression, and dominant ideologies in education.
- Banking Model – Freire’s term for traditional education where students passively receive information from teachers.
- Liberatory Education – Teaching that aims to free learners from oppression and awaken critical consciousness.
- Dialogic Learning – Learning that happens through authentic, mutual conversation rather than top-down instruction.
- Reconceptualist Movement – A stream of early childhood scholarship that critiques traditional developmentalism and calls for more socially aware approaches.
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