Marxist and Critical Theory

Merriam and Baumgartner (2020) write of liberators in feminist pedagogy and adult eLearning that they "draw from poster modernism and Marxist and critical theory. From this perspective, the structures of society, these systems that intrude on our life worlds, oppress through their power and control. The structured nature of power relations and interlocking systems of oppression based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and ableism are seen as being reinforced through education: that is institutions of learners and the classroom itself reproduce the power structures found in society at large" (p. 311). 

Later they write "those who embrace feminist pedagogy work toward teacher/learner power dynamics that encourage collaboration. This collaboration can be demonstrated by students and teachers co-constructing the course syllabus, and learning contracts" (p. 313). 

I get to see feminist pedagogy weaving it's way into our learning community every day. A standard in our industry has been a 6 hour new hire training that is for the most part trained by older, usually white, men. These are former safety representatives who are working as contractor trainers. They reinforce the structured power of the community and do so for every new hire that comes into the industry by "banking" education. In their defense, this is the system that has been set up, and due to regulations, there is little they can do to change it. 

There have been changes though. One has come from a small training group in California. This group created a training that has many aspects of feminist pedagogy. Collaboration, co-construction of goals and an environment where the instructor is less a "banking" instructor and more a facilitator, learning with and along side the learner. We have modeled several of our newer courses off of this course from California due to the effectiveness of engaging the learner. We see our learners are thirsting for this type of training and a change to the old school "banking" system. 

References

Enns, C.Z. & Forrest, L. (2005). Toward defining and integrating multicultural and feminist pedagogies Download multicultural and feminist pedagogies. In C.Z. Enns & A. Sinacore (Eds.) Teaching and Social Justice: Integrating Multicultural and Feminist Theories in the Classroom (pp. 3-23). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. (K-State Online)

Merriam, S. B., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2020). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.