[main page – content changes with each section]

Feminist Pedagogy

"Feminist education - the feminist classroom - is and should be a place where there is a sense of struggle,

where there is visible acknowledgement of the union of theory and practice,

where we work together as teachers and students to overcome the estrangement and alienation

that have become so much the norm in the contemporary university."

bell hooks (1989). Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black Sheba, London, p.51.

What is Feminist Pedagogy?

The roots of this pedagogy lie in the work of Paulo Freire.

It is applicable to Postmodernism. This pedagogy includes women as learners and attempts to create an education for women.

Carolyn Shrewsbury names four main themes in feminist pedagogy: empowerment, community, social action, and reflexivity.

It uses a style of teaching and curriculum that focuses on allowing students to actively participate in their own learning.

The student and teacher work cooperatively on the curriculum for the class.

There is more cooperative learning in the classroom to gain knowledge as a whole. Students work in groups and use discussion to learn more about their subject.

It allows the teacher to become a true facilitator of learning.

Students and teacher usually sit in a circle. It is difficult for an outside observer to tell who is in charge just from the classroom setup.

The classroom welcomes constructive criticism such as peer reviewing and evaluations.

It gives students tools to criticize classroom interactions in terms of larger structures.

It challenges the traditional patriarchial structures of teaching and curriculum, such as lecturing and giving total control to the teacher.

The goal is to create equality in the classroom and to value all students.

It focuses on community in classroom. People should feel free to express how they feel and should gain trust and respect from the others for doing so.

It opens up a space for everyone to be the "other". It decenters people.

It encourages all voices in the classroom, no silencing.

The use of student experience in the aid of comprehending topics is encouraged.

Feminist pedagogy is NOT:

The belief in female dominance.

The teaching of feminism.

Criticisms:

Sometimes students miss the voice of the teacher.

The topic of discussion can get lost in the classroom because the main focus is on student contributions. Many students look to the teacher to redirect the discussion to the text being studied.

Feminist Pedagogy is working within the system and can be subject to biases.

This type of learning does not focus on one answer. There is usually no coherent line of argumentation and it leaves students with an uncertainty of outcomes.

Because authority is abolished, it can be a disservice when someone is hurtful to another in class.

This pedagogy can sometimes "speak for" an entire race of people and make assumptions about their "truth" instead of leaving it up to individuals to discuss their own experiences.

Resources to Help You Understand Feminist Pedagogy:

Aaron, Jane & Sylvia Walby (eds) (1991). Out of the Margins: Women's Studies in the Nineties, Falmer Press, London, p. 1.

Adkins, Lisa & Diana Leonard (1992). "From Academia to the Education Marketplace: UK Women's Studies in the 1990s." Women's Studies Quarterly Nos. 3 & 4.

Briskin, Linda & Rebecca Coulter (1992). "Feminist Pedagogy: Challenging the Normative." Canadian Journal of Education 17/3, p. 249.

Curtis, Cheryl (1998). "Creating Culturally Responsive Curriculum: Making Race Matter." The Clearing House: a Journal of Educational Research, Controversy and Practices 17/3, p. 138.

Freire, Paulo (1972). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Penguin, Middlesex, p. 25.

Hesse-Biber, Sharlene & Melissa Kesler Gilbert (1994). "Closing the Technological Gender Gap: Feminist Pedagogy in the Computer-Assisted Classroom." Teaching Sociology. Vol. 22, p. 1.

Hooks, bell (1989). Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black Sheba, London, p.51.

Lather, Patricia Ann and Michael W. Apple (1991). Getting Smart: Feminist Research and Pedagogy with/in the Postmodern.

Lauretis, Teresa de (1987). Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema. Macmillan, London, p. 159.

Masuchika, Gail and Lynda Stone. The Education Feminism Reader.- essays from feminist educators.

Omolade, Barbara (1993). "A Black Feminist Pedagogy." Women's Studies Quarterly Nos. 3 & 4, p.34.

Ruggiero, Chris (1990). "Teaching Women's Studies: the Repersonalization of our Politics." Women's Studies International Forum 13/5 pp. 469-475.

Schniedewind, Nancy (1983). "Feminist Values: Guidelines for a Teaching Methodology in Women’s Studies." Learning Our Way: Essays in Feminist Education. The Crossing Press: New York.

Smith, Barbara (1982). "Racism and Women's Studies." All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But some of Us are Brave. Feminist Press, New York.

Weiler, Kathleen (1991). "Freire and a Feminist Pedagogy of Difference." Harvard Educational Review, 61/4, p.462.

Websites:

http://ccub.wlv.ac.uk/~le1810/femped.htm - This has a good definition of feminist pedagogy and a big list of resources.

http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~cbury/web/Courses97-8/Pedagogy/discuss.html - This is a helpful discussion of feminist pedagogy from a classroom.

http://ccub.wlv.ac.uk/~le1810/fpq.htm - This is a great list of quotations.

http://www.usask.ca/wgst/journals/conf3.htm - This discusses feminist pedagogy and the integration of knowledge.

http://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/issue2_2/schacht.html - This discusses using feminist pedagogy from a male perspective.

http://www.louisville.edu/~scwils01/wilsfront.html - This is a hyperessay on feminist pedagogy.

http://www.rowan.edu/mars/depts/biology/faculty/tahamont/themesin.htm - This discusses themes used in feminist pedagogy.

http://www.edc.org/WomensEquity/ - WEEA resources center.

http://www.albany.edu/faculty/vng/allhtmlfiles/feministpedagogy.htm - This discusses critical feminist pedagogy.

List of Bibliographies:

http://www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/edu.html#General

http://womenstudy.cla.umn.edu/research/fempedbib.html

http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/WomensStudies/core/crfemped.htm

http://ccub.wlv.ac.uk/~le1810/femped.htm

http://enhanced-learning.org/prox/finkebib.htm

http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/WomensStudies/Development+Support/pedagogy-biblio.html

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~hcohen/Theory/pedres.html

http://www.hawaii.edu/sls/crookes/fempedres.html

Feminist Pedagogy Experts:

Go to our Theorists and Theories page that describes theories and theorists that are related to feminist pedagogy.

Paulo Friere

Carol Gilligan

bell hooks

Kathleen Weiler

Professors at UT:

Curriculum and instruction:

Annie Brooks: Human resource development; qualitative research, management development.

Lisa Goldstein: Feminist curriculum practice and theory; feminist research methodologies

Educational Psychology:

Toni Falbo: Social psychology of gender/power

Rachel Faouladi: Multivariate statistical procedures

Kinesiology and health education:

Polly Edmundson: Women’s health and sexuality

Carole K. Holahan: Adult development and aging; psychosocial issues in women’s health.

Waneen Spirduso: Physical dimensions of aging.

Mary A. Steinhardt: Biopshychosocial health promotion and resilience.

Janice Todd – Cultural history and the body.