essential tenets and principles of liberatory pedagogy

Note: each element applies to all relationships Note: action is key – these are not passive qualities

Tenets of liberatory pedagogy

1. Trauma is constricting; knowledge is liberating

2. Operate from joy, pleasure, compassion, and wonder, not pessimism, scarcity, judgment, and fear

3. Offer compassion and grace for self and others

4. Observe the mirror that others hold up to you, resist engaging in oppressive practices, challenge yourself to transform

5. Center culturally responsive care, cultural humility, restorative practices, harm reduction

6. Inclusiveness through language, inter/action, and role-modeling

7. Recognize the interconnection of culture, history, identity, and power (i.e., oppressive systems)

Principles of liberatory pedagogy

1. Co-create the holding environment

   1. Co-created: each member of the system has a responsibility to do their part

   2. The physical, intellectual, and emotional space that supports a person’s physiological, emotional, academic, social, spiritual, cultural, and structural systems and interactions

      1. these responsibilities vary by role

   3. Differentiate between comfort and safety, and discomfort and unsafe/danger

   4. Harm reduction is the model: no environment is perfect. We strive for a comfortable enough environment that supports learning, retention, and integration.

   5. The time length of the relationship may determine how much co-creation to expect (e.g., a one-time 90-minute workshop will likely be framed by the presenters; a 3-hour, once a week course that runs for 16-weeks will likely be co-created by all members, though the frame begins with the instructor; a one-on-one advising relationship will be co-created by both members though the frame begins with the adviser)

   6. Safety is relative and defined by the person experiencing it (i.e., comfortable enough for me may look different than comfortable enough for you)

   7. Qualities: stability, consistency, self-regulation, dependability, reliability

2. Accountability

   1. Showcased through our actions: transparency, responsiveness, willing to accept our flaws, open to feedback and (extended) discussion

   2. Builds trustworthiness

   3. Leads to restoration

   4. Grant grace to self and others while navigating accountability processes

3. Inter/Connection

   1. Create opportunities for formal and informal connection

   2. Hold space for and support each other

   3. Offer flexibility, build flexibility into policies and procedures

   4. Unity through shared purpose, shared decisions, and shared actions

   5. Center collaboration, partnership, voice, and choice

   6. Appreciate the interconnection of people, events, and systems

4. Self-work (is this part of liberation or separate?)

   1. Strive for embodiment

   2. Critical, compassionate, lifelong self-reflection

   3. Resolve our trauma

   4. Awareness of our tender areas

5. Empowerment and resilience

   1. Recognize and accept resilience, post-traumatic growth, vicarious resilience, and vicarious transformation as welcomed resolutions

   2. Value change and growth

   3. Build upon strengths and lived experience

   4. Promote recovery and resolution

   5. Encourage self-advocacy and validate when it’s happening

6. Right relationship

   1. Adult-adult relationships: We teach adults (in the US, 18+). We are therefore in adult-adult relationships, not adult-child relationships. While each person may not have the emotional capacity to hold the varied and nuanced experiences of academia, each person shares the responsibility to negotiate the relationship. The power inherent in the teacher-student relationship may serve as kindling for a reenactment of the parent-child relationship.

   2. Power with each other: Power cannot be neutralized. However, power can be shifted to the more equitable realm of power with (contrary to power over).

   3. Resist the trauma triangle by flipping it to the empowerment dynamic: The teacher is not omniscient. This belief is a projection from childhood and establishes a parent-child relationship. If the teacher needs to be accountable but does not know that a rupture occurred then the student needs to bring the rupture to the teacher’s attention. If the teacher fails to engage in accountability, then we have a different problem.