ED 518

Multicultural Education

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Unit-Five Focus: Critical pedagogy, and culturally responsive teaching
If teachers use rationales embodied in critical pedagogy, culturally relevant teaching, funds of knowledge, students are more likely to find meaning and purpose in schooling and education. Ideas and concepts explained in this unit are: critical pedagogy, funds of knowledge, and culturally relevant approach to teaching.

What is critical pedagogy? The objective of cultural pedagogy is to generate in students the desire and ability to ask questions about relationships observed in society. Critical pedagogy also embraces the perspective that education should be about a liberating experience, designed to spur students on to seek social and economic justice (Stewart, 2007). Critical pedagogy should lead to acquisition of critical consciousness – or the ability to perceive social, political and economic oppression and to take action against the oppressive structures. The antithesis of critical pedagogy is banking model of teaching (Freire, 1980), in this model, the teacher is the depositor and students are the depositories. Thus, a teacher deposits school knowledge while students passively receive, memorize and repeat the knowledge perhaps in a test. The more students accept the passive role, the less they develop critical consciousness.

What is culturally relevant teaching? A variety of concepts and terminology have been used to try to describe the relationship of culture to teaching. Ladson-Billings (1992) uses this term to describe the kind of teaching that is designed not merely to fit the school culture to the students’ culture but also to use student culture as the basis for helping students understand themselves and others, structure interactions, and conceptualize knowledge. Culturally relevant teaching requires the recognition of African American, Latino/a, or Native American as an important strength upon which to construct the schooling experience

What is “funds of knowledge”? Moll et al (1992) view households as containing ample cultural and cognitive resources with great, potential utility for classroom instruction. This view contrasts sharply with prevailing and accepted perceptions of working class families as somehow disorganized socially and deficient intellectually, perceptions that are well accepted and rarely challenged in the field of education and elsewhere.

The above terms are important in the field of multicultural education and should be linked to form a comprehensive understanding of the tools that teachers can use if they are to reach students who have been raised outside the mainstream, middle class culture.

Readings for culturally relevant teaching: Ladson-Billings, G. (1992) Reading between the lines and beyond the pages: A culturally relevant approach to literacy teaching. Theory into Practice, 31(4) 312-320

Reading for funds of knowledge: Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice 31(2) 132-141