Critical Pedagogy and the Ethics of Care: How Values Affect the Classroom Dynamic

Author

Colby D. Reed, Missouri State UniversityFollow

Date of Graduation

Fall 2018

Degree

Master of Writing

Department

English

Committee Chair

Margaret Weaver

Abstract

This thesis centers on the benefits of Paulo Freire’s critical and liberatory pedagogy for introductory composition classes when used as an ethical and moral template as opposed to a sociological ideology. Using care ethics as a lens, chapter one begins by addressing current difficulties and criticisms present in the discussion of care ethics and the pedagogy as the models for composition classes and then applying the ethics of critical and liberatory pedagogy to these issues. Chapter two builds on that by exploring what ethical and moral elements are present in Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and how they relate to the present state of care ethics, specifically the commonalty of beneficence and value of individual freedom. Chapter three will demonstrate the functional utility of critical pedagogy in the classroom and chapter four will give a full conclusion. The research that is the core of the thesis leads to the conclusion that a moral view based on the ideals necessitated by critical and liberatory pedagogy has an immensely beneficial effect of the classroom dynamic, promoting true learning and academic discourse.

Keywords

Critical and liberatory pedagogy, care ethic, justice, liberation, moral, ethic, world view.

Subject Categories

Adult and Continuing Education | Arts and Humanities | Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Curriculum and Instruction | Educational Methods | Humane Education | Language and Literacy Education | Liberal Studies

Copyright

© Colby D. Reed

Recommended Citation

Reed, Colby D., "Critical Pedagogy and the Ethics of Care: How Values Affect the Classroom Dynamic" (2018). MSU Graduate Theses/Dissertations. 3325.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/3325