CRITICAL REFLEXIVITY AS A TOOL FOR ADDRESSING INEQUITIES IN EDUCATION AND BEYOND

Abstract

Society, perhaps more than ever, is open to disrupting racist, colonial, and oppressive policies and systems. Engaging critical reflexivity (CR) in education spaces is one potential way to move this work forward. CR is “an ‘unsettling’ of the basic assumptions, discourse, and practices used in describing reality” (Pollner, 1991, p. 370). It involves examining assumptions underlying our actions and examining how these assumptions and related actions influence meaning and contribute to creating, sustaining, and/or transforming “realities” and ourselves (Cunliffe, 2020, p. 3). CR can expose contradictions, uncertainties, and possibilities within ourselves and in relation to the world around us (Cunliffe, 2020) while also enhancing our ability to explore positionality and power dynamics. The purpose of this workshop is to engage with CR as an intervention to deconstruct the existing power hierarchies in one’s work environment, education, and knowledge base. CR is a potential tool to help educators foster inclusive, equitable, and safe learning environments for their students. This session will provide a safe space to engage with CR and to work toward addressing the disconnect between “talk” and “application” in education, with an aim of bridging the gap between theory and practice.