Critical Identity Pedagogy: Bridging the dialectics of Social Justice and Inclusion

Insisting that teaching is a political act, Critical pedagogy proposes that social justice and democracy cannot be distinct from education (Nganga and Kambutu, 2013). The goal of Critical pedagogy is agency and liberation from the effects of poverty, racism, discrimination, and oppression. Such agency is believed to be achieved through awakening a "critical consciousness" in the minds of both teacher and learner (Ledwith, 2018). The concept of critical consciousness is central to Critical pedagogy. It has been defined as "going beneath surface meanings […] to understand the deep meanings, root causes, social contexts, ideologies, and personal consequences of any topic" (K12 Academics, 2021). It may be argued that through such a critical methodology, practitioners may find a path that helps bridge the complex dialectics of social justice and inclusion embedded in Scottish educational policy. This includes the recent guidance on supporting transgender young people and race equality: Supporting transgender young people in schools: guidance for Scottish schools (2021) and Promoting race equality and anti-racist education (2022). The following paper will assert that for this to be the case, there is a need to expand on Paulo Freire's (1921–1997) famous critical consciousness model within the broader ecology of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), and towards a pedagogy of conscious criticality concerning the whole notion of 'Identity' itself, that is, towards a Critical pedagogy of identity, or Critical Identity Pedagogy. I will reflect on the implications of this within my own context as a teacher of Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies (RMPS), and Principal Teacher of Raising Attainment (Equity).