Education is often taken for granted, especially in the communities that have a plethora of resources and opportunities. However, in disadvantaged settings, the role of education and the ability to develop literacy is often minimized, which leads to the reinforcement of social inequalities and the enhancement of the corresponding status quo. More disturbingly, the lack of education opportunities prevents people from developing critical faculties that could allow them to improve the quality of their lives and embrace their potential. In turn, critical pedagogy and, respectively, critical literacies serve as a proxy for introducing people to the ability to make critical observations about the world and other people, as well as become active participants in the social, economic, and political development of their communities. Although the goals of critical pedagogy and critical literacy are geared toward different stakeholders (teachers and learners respectively), the two need to be represented as different sides of the same concept of promoting education as the gateway to community members’ active political, economic, and social engagement with the further opportunities for employment, professional development, and improved quality of life.
The notions of critical pedagogy and critical literacy are not quite new, yet they are still relevant in the present-day social and educational settings. Specifically, critical pedagogy as a concept suggests that students should be taught to adopt a critical approach not only to academic issues but also to sociocultural, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical phenomena (Vasquez et al., 2019). Thus, learners become capable of identifying the constraints that are imposed onto them due to their belonging to a particular social group or class (Vasquez et al., 2019). Therefore, critical pedagogy introduces people to the concept of engagement in economic and political processes taking place in the community in question. By offering people a chance to place the learned theory concerning social and economic phenomena into a specific context, an educator incites the need for action in an individual, therefore, opening a window of opportunity for personal development (Vasquez et al., 2019).
The described change that critical pedagogy provides is linked closely and organically to the notion of critical literacy. Whereas critical pedagogy is seen as a tool for promoting education within disadvantaged communities, critical literacy is traditionally seen as the outcome of critical pedagogy having been applied. Namely, critical literacy is regarded as the skill that members of marginalized communities can develop to question the existing power structures and prove that they are built on the lack of fairness and the promotion of division within the community (Vasquez et al., 2019). Therefore, critical literacy is the extension of critical pedagogy and its natural outcome due to the change in perspective that it facilitates.
The significance of critical literacy for the promotion of social justice has been discussed quite thoroughly as well. Due to the focus on the assessment of underlying social factors and the related premises that may have encouraged the author of a specific argument to take the chosen stance, critical literacy furthers the social discourse and promotes the discussion of critical issues that vulnerable communities face. As a result, by developing critical literacy, the representatives of the said communities receive the voice that helps them to become more noticeable and allows them to demand that their concerns are addressed.
Therefore, critical pedagogy must be deemed as the premise on which critical literacy can be created. Despite the difference in the functions that the specified concepts have, they contribute to the same goal of encouraging social change and addressing the existing social inequalities. Moreover, critical literacy as the direct outcome of critical pedagogy being applied builds the potential for action performed by the vulnerable groups in question, therefore, giving them agency and ensuring that they are capable of participating in the socioeconomic and sociopolitical discourse within their community. As a result, the cultural and financial impediments that the groups in question face, specifically, the presence of prejudices, the lack of education, and the absence of economic opportunities, can be managed accordingly to create the platform for a meaningful and lasting change.
Despite the difference in the focus of critical pedagogy and critical literacy, the two notions must be seen as inseparable and interrelated since they can be used to promote the development of critical thought in disadvantaged community members, with the resulting rise in the opportunities of their personal, academic, and professional development, as well as the notable improvement in the quality of their lives. Therefore, when combined and utilized as the way of encouraging a shift in people’s perception of knowledge and the role of information, critical pedagogy and critical literacy can become powerful drivers behind a massive sociocultural, sociopolitical, and socioeconomic change. Namely, with the enhancement of critical thought that critical pedagogy and critical literacy provide, the rise in opportunities for vulnerable groups to improve the quality of their lives and contribute to the development of the community appears. Thus, critical pedagogy and critical literacy as the phenomena that are intrinsically connected must be seen as the factors encouraging positive change.
Reference
Vasquez, V. M., Janks, H., & Comber, B. (2019). Critical literacy as a way of being and doing. Language Arts, 96(5), 300-311.