Date of Award
5-2021
Degree Type
Honors College Thesis
Academic Program
Social Work BSW
Department
Social Work
First Advisor
Julie Reid, Ph.D.
Advisor Department
Anthropology and Sociology
Abstract
This thesis explores Mississippi K-12 public education in terms of inequality and critical pedagogy with a focus on historical factors, state testing, and personal accounts of current teachers. The research is based on ten in-depth interviews with current schoolteachers regarding their perspectives on education and personal experiences and draws from previous scholarship, notably bell hook’s concept of engaged pedagogy. Critical pedagogy offers a model for transformative education for resisting social inequity and promoting democracy and citizenship, but teacher interviews suggest that the structure and culture of classrooms are contradictory to adopting critical pedagogy. Specifically, the research finds that both standardized testing and attempts to stay apolitical in the classroom are oppositional to fostering critical engagement and awareness about social realities.
Copyright
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Recommended Citation
Ford, Kelsi, "Engaged Pedagogy and Teacher Discourse: A Critical Examination of Public Education in Mississippi" (2021). Honors Theses. 808.
https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/808