Deconstructing Engagement
Journal response to article by Ann B. Vibert & Carolyn Shields, “Approaches to student engagement: Does ideology matter?” in McGill Journal of Education, Spring 2003(38) p. 221.
The authors have taken an action research approach to the whole idea of student engagement, and have raised some interesting questions around how we view student engagement using the methodology of critical and sociocultural theory. Their stated purpose was to challenge teachers to examine their own ideological lenses, or as I interpreted it, to expose the hidden curriculum that was part of their theory and practice.
I found this article very interesting, because it identified three lenses that are commonly used, and I could immediately pick out various aspects that relate directly to my Adult Basic Education (ABE) practice. For example, the “rational/technical” lens, according to the authors, describes the main purpose of education as “preparation for participation in the world . . . and a successful competition in the labour market” (Student Engagement From Different Perspectives, para. 2). Our ABE Level Three Communications curriculum document (June 2004) states that “ . . . the reasons adults provide for returning to school are . . . to obtain academic certification in order to access further training, to increase employability, and for personal satisfaction” (p. IV). The following page references all the skills that are required to be employable. At the same time, the document also states that it is working at viewing curriculum through a “multicultural” or “anti-racist lens”.
The second lens described, the interpretive/student-centred lens, is the one I discovered related most closely to the questions that I raised in regard to my teaching practice. In my action research, I have reviewed literature that uses this lens, but have also researched critical and socio-cultural theory. I find myself reacting to the idea that I am required to be a change agent as suggested by Friere (Pedagogy of the Oppressed), and yet, it is often the approach to which I am most drawn. My difficulty with the concept is that it still makes assumptions about what would be best for the oppressed. I think only the oppressed can really make that choice, although I also believe that much oppression is systemic, and requires political will and outside support for it to change. The whole discussion reminds me so much of the activism of the 1960’s. I was not complacent in those years, but I did not feel I needed to be out their waving placards.
That was the era of the rise of feminist thinking. I remember giving the whole issue a great deal of thought to see where my values and beliefs fit. My conclusion was that the most effective feminists were those who went ahead and did what they believed in without feeling they had to prove anything or get onto a platform. They acted on their beliefs and did amazing things. One such person was Mother Theresa.
The article has challenged me in the area of using a critical lens approach. I have an inner resistance to the radical elements, the activism. There is a radical side to my nature that bucks the status quo, but it has been tempered by life experience. To completely immerse myself in a critical mindframe involves constant deconstruction, re-evaluation, and to some degree, cynicism, which can focus too much on the negative (in my opinion). I like the concept of “hopeful practice” that has come up in the classroom discussion a few times this week. I also have been reminded of the need to focus on strengths rather than on deficits (Battiste, M., 1998. Enabling the autumn seed: Toward a decolonized approach to aboriginal knowledge, language, and education. Canadian Journal of Native Education 22 (1) p. 25).
Ultimately, I believe that ideology does matter, in the sense that you have to be aware of your values and beliefs, and realize that they will influence your teaching, regardless of how neutral or objective you might think you are. The learners in my classroom act as a filter to help me sort through where I am in my thinking, as long as I am willing to listen, and allow them to challenge me. I think I am edging toward using the critical lens more often in my instructional approach, and my research and reading has certainly made me more aware.
eci808arlene 