Does Academic Freedom Protect Pedagogical Autonomy?

Abstract

Scholars have analyzed debates about controversial faculty speech inside and outside of the classroom, but none have paid close attention to the facet of academic freedom related to professors’ decisions about daily teaching methods. This omission, along with obstacles to enacting pedagogical norms, has caused the scholarly community to overlook the manner in which academic freedom entails collective supervision of teaching. By viewing instructional choices through the prism of academic freedom, this essay encourages faculty members to engage with the scholarship of teaching in a manner that is similar to how we consult disciplinary literature when conducting research or determining course content.