Using a phenomenological approach, this study examined the lived experiences of students and instructors in relation to culturally diverse classrooms in an urban Canadian post-secondary institution, and what meanings they ascribed to those experiences. Data were collected through individual interviews with nine students and seven instructors, who had experienced the phenomenon. Findings revealed that first, all participants, students and instructors, were keenly aware of differences in how they personally differed and how they observed differences in those around them. Second, participants’ social location impacted how they experienced differences. Third, in their fears and hopes, participants expressed a range of emotional responses to differences. Both students and instructors seemed to have similar hopes and fears. Emotional responses were dependent upon the nature of the critical events pertaining to difference which, in turn, prompted participants to adopt strategies to deal with these events. Fourth, the discussion about cultural diversity exposed a paradox and irony between what participants said and what they actually experienced. Although participants enthusiastically attested to the richness of diversity, when looking beneath the façade, a dystopian utopia emerged where participants were “surrounded by all these contradictions.” Participants experienced a form of every day culture shock every time they entered a university classroom, and they uniformly talked about valuing difference, but practice often demonstrated the opposite. This became evident when participants talked about the pressure to fit in and about wanting to belong. Fifth, most participants evidenced varying levels of ambiguity about their personal and public identity, demonstrated in seemingly self-deprecating language. Sixth, although the traditional academic system illustrated evidence of nontraditional methods, at times the impression of openness seemed paradoxical. The distinctive nature of this study revealed that when using Freire’s critical pedagogy and Mezirow’s transformative learning as theoretical frameworks, results showed a continuum on the spectrum of power sharing with some instructors still seeing themselves as vessel fillers, to instructors on the other side of the spectrum, willing to reevaluate traditional models. Such a study is important because cross-cultural competency and sensitivity, as Street (1984) says, are essential components in today’s culturally diverse work, academic, and social environment.

The purpose of this research was to create understanding about Freire's critical pedagogy with its compelling emphasis on student-centered learning and social justice. The researcher maintained that Freire's work either has been distorted or has the potential to be distorted because of limited philosophical inquiry. To address this concern, then. This study explores two key elements of Freire's work. First, it identifies various philosophical assumptions shaping Freire's critical pedagogy. Second, it examines how Freire synthesized these philosophical ideas. Ultimately, the researcher discusses how these ideas might find application in adult education.An historical and philosophical approach was used in this study. The philosophies of Aristotle, Karl Marx, and Jean-Paul Sartre are important historical and philosophical components in Freire's narratives. In the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle argued that the characteristics distinguishing humans from all other entities or their "excellence", is their ability to reason. Freire adopted and expanded this idea by arguing that denying humans the opportunity to reason is a prima facie violation of their basic humanity. The dialectical social conflict that Freire identifies between the oppressors and the oppressed is directly indebted to Marx's theory of dialectical materialism. Lastly. Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism is a philosophy concerned with `being' and 'existence' which are recurring concepts in Freire's philosophical synthesis. Furthermore, this work is informed by my personal experiences in Latin America.The research concludes that Freire was particularly concerned about ideological influences on human consciousness and actions. Freire continually addressed ideological influence through a Marxist analysis. He recognized that humans are shaped by social ideas. Freire's observations provide many opportunities for progressive educators to critique their adult education curriculum and practice. The researcher concluded that; 1) Educators should be aware that Freire is not a method. In other words, educators should create their own methods; 2) Critical reflection on practice has the potential to influence one's ontology; 3) Dialogue is a central element to critical reflection on practice; 4) Teaching and learning are enhanced by contextualization and politicizing of experiences and; 5) Problem-posing education engages students through dialogue and experiential learning. / Department of Educational Studies

In asking about the experiences of professors embodying and enacting tools of critical pedagogy, this thesis seeks to explore strategies of resistance to the hegemony of neoliberalism in the Academy. This research focuses on the Canadian university as characterized by neoliberal logic and the hierarchical practices of capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism. By exploring the themes of neoliberalism, violence, tension, critical pedagogy, and anti-oppression, that are in turn rooted in personal testimony and lived experience of educators, this study seeks to challenge normative systems of knowledge production to expand and explore subjugated knowledges. What is at stake is developing strategies that may be cultivated and documented as critical pedagogical tools that work toward collective imaginings of resistance.

Chronic disease is the largest cause of death in the world. Yet little is known about how globalization forces affect the body and the experience of someone who is chronically ill. The need for specialized knowledge of subjective data is significant as it will assist us to improve our understanding and develop stronger nursing practices for people who are chronically ill. The purpose of this research is to understand the effect that globalization forces have on the personal experience of people living with chronic illnesses. People living with chronic illness from Canada and Colombia are participants in the study. The following research questions guided the study “What is it like to live with a chronic illness in the context of contemporary globalization forces? How do these political, economical and social forces affect the body of the chronically ill? Are experienced difficulties similar or different in a middle-income country as compared to a high-income country? The methodology for the study follows an interpretive inquiry approach using a critical hermeneutic phenomenological method. Hermeneutic phenomenology explores the various dimensions of human experience in human situations such as embodiment, spatiality, relationality and temporality. Critical pedagogy as a theoretical perspective invoking the work of Paulo Freire and Enrique Dussel is used to examine emerging findings in the context of globalization and resulting global inequities. This dissertation presents the experience of people who are chronically ill including access to health care, respect, compassion, social, political and legal exclusion, and calls for understanding and action on the part of health care professionals, policy makers and society. The findings urge us to move from merely acknowledging the difficulties people living with chronic illness endure in an age of globalization to action to bring about health care, social, and political reform through a process of conscientization and mutual transformation.

This study investigates the impact of the New Basics Project on teachers at a special school for students with intellectual impairments. The study is aimed at exploring the complex nature of the work of special educators as they enact the New Basics curriculum with a particular focus on the teachers’ opinions about challenges that arose for their curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices. Attention is also paid to how the principal’s leadership supported the enactment of the New Basics in respect to what he did and why he used particular strategies. The nine teachers and their principal were involved in a series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews from one of only three special schools in phase one of the New Basics trial in Queensland, Australia. These interviews produced data from the special educators as they were confronted with a new curriculum that challenged their previous teaching practices. The enactment of the New Basics curriculum occurred within the context of a state-sanctioned mandate to provide alternative programs to those offered in mainstream schools, for students with special needs. This thesis explores these teachers' experiences using critical theory as a basis for analyzing their opinions on issues such as the role of the special educator, tensions between old and new curricula, pedagogical and assessment practices, and connections between the at-school learning experiences for intellectually impaired students and the realities of post-school life. The investigation also examines the leadership conduct of the principal in changing times at the school. The findings suggest that the New Basics has played a significant role in providing structures for developing communities of practice amongst teachers; in supporting special educators to focus more on the educational needs of the students (e.g., literacy, numeracy, financial planning) and less on their medical needs (e.g., toileting, feeding, personal hygiene); and supporting school leadership that empowers and listens critically to teachers as essential components of the successful enactment of curriculum reforms like the New Basics.

Thesis (MEd - Curriculum Leadership) -- University of South Australia, 1992

This study investigates the influence of popular culture texts on the subjectivities of young people and argues that critical pedagogical practices need to be further deployed by English teachers in response to the corporate driven nature of popular texts. Three levels of synthesized information are presented, using data analysis born of a quantitative survey and in-depth interviews with a group of secondary English students in Perth, Australia. Firstly, I argue that popular culture texts constitute the predominate form of consumed textual material for young people and that these texts are increasingly defined by corporate ideologies and branding. Secondly, I investigate the influence that these popular culture texts have on the subjectivities and everyday social experiences of young people. I argue that the ideologies and discourses in popular texts position young people to assume subjectivities that are increasingly defined by branding and corporate ideology, and that these texts often have a normalizing effect. Hence, I argue that young people’s social currency is often defined by the extent to which individuals demonstrate an alliance to the ideologies of popular media, and that individuals who deviate from such popular norms often experience subjugation and exclusion within peer and social settings. Constructivist notions of subjectivity and an analytical framework heavily influenced by Foucauldian theory inform this theorization. Thirdly, I finalize my argument by dealing pedagogically with subject English and areas of it that hold relevance in terms of the integration and analysis of ‘the popular’; including critical literacy, multiliteracies and critical pedagogy. I argue that a commitment to critically analyzing popular culture texts in the subject is lacking and that students feel many English teachers are “out of touch” with the everyday realities of young people and their popular culture influences. I argue that such failures risk producing students whose everyday experiences are silenced and who are unaware of the ways they are being positioned to adopt certain corporate driven subjectivities. Methodologically this study is informed by principles of critical theory, cultural studies, discourse analysis and a commitment to position the often-silenced student voice as a prime analytical tool. Aspects of autoethnography are deployed through punctuating personal narratives that feature within this text in order to illuminate the journey of self-realization and fundamental self reevaluation I have traveled throughout the production of this research work.

Dissertation (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / On t.p.: Doctor of Philosophy in Education Policy Studies. Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Dr. of Education)--University of Cincinnati, 2007. / Advisor: Holly Johnson Includes abstract. Keywords: Teaching for Social Justice; Literature; Adolescent Literacy; Texts; Teacher Beliefs Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2005. / A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Education, May 2005. Includes bibliography.