Chuck out the teacher: critical pedagogy in the community

Abstract

The internal workings of working class writing and publishing groups reveals important insights about the nature of democracy. The attempt to form collective and co-operative groups that supported everyone led to an active re-making of educational relationships along democratic lines. The insistence upon equality between writers, irrespective of individual ability, was a cardinal principle. However, in a changing funding climate, workshops came under pressure to formalise relationships, professionalise and introduce management structures. This had mixed results as groups attempted to negotiate these tensions. The example of the Fed brings into question some key aspects of critical pedagogy which privileges the role of tutors and education as a whole and, in some cases, assumes that learners have internalised dominant ideas.