Critical pedagogy is a critical theory about education and upbringing. Critical pedagogy encompasses several aspects simultaneously: on the one hand, the theoretical development of critical educational theories, and on the other, their practical application. The goal is the transformation of education at all levels in order to convey critical consciousness.246 Critical educational theories examine in particular how power structures influence the way forms of knowledge are recognised.
Critical pedagogy originates from the Marxist pedagogy of Paulo Freire. Freire’s pedagogy became popular through his 1968 work “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. Paulo Freire’s writings are among the most frequently cited works in the social sciences today.247 Through his so-called “liberation pedagogies”, Freire developed a new-left conflict theory about the education system: those who are considered educated possess similar privileges to bourgeois private property owners in classical Marxism. Those who are considered uneducated or ignorant form a kind of proletariat. Using Freire’s methodology, the uneducated are to become aware of their systemic oppression (see Conflict). For Freire, true education describes a process for acquiring Marxist competence. Established education systems are, for him, reproduction mechanisms of the unjust capitalist order. For the reproduction of the unjust order, he uses a bank account model as a metaphor.248 To break through this unjust order, students are presented with emotionally provocative content in order to develop the right political attitudes against oppression. Through the problem-posing dialogue between student and educator, so-called “generative themes” from the students’ lifeworld are problematised from a Marxist perspective: students are to find Marxist solutions and apply them to their own lives in order to overcome the oppressive system.249
Inspired by Freire’s liberation pedagogy, the educator Henry Giroux coined the term “critical pedagogy” by further developing his Marxist educational theory through identity politics.250 Through critical pedagogy, identity-political activism has massively spread throughout the entire US education sector in recent decades. At least one generation of teacher-training students in the USA has now been trained in critical pedagogy.251 This now also shapes everyday pedagogical practice: with critical pedagogy, students are to be made uncomfortable about their alleged privileges.252 Discomfort is allegedly necessary to break the intrinsic resistance of students to critical theories.253 The curriculum is to be decolonised and students are to be trained as activists.
The central goal of critical education is the realisation of social justice. To this end, the education systems are to be transformed until there are no more discrepancies to the disadvantage of marginalised groups, with the goal of equality of outcome (in English: equity). Consequently, standards are lowered in favour of low-performing students (see Inclusion).254 Students who are considered marginalised are to be favoured and receive more help, while those who are considered privileged are to receive less attention. In the USA, critical pedagogy is also practised under the slogans “Social-Emotional Learning” and “Culturally Relevant Teaching”.255
As a reaction to new-left activism in the education system, the number of students outside the state school system has increased sharply in recent years.256