Empowering students: Pedagogy that benefits educators and learners

Abstract

This article argues that one of the main goals of social or civic studies is to empower students. However, traditional teaching practices often have the opposite effect of disempowering students. Traditional teaching practices are understood to emerge from the history and context of public schooling, from early practices, which have been reified. After describing this context, the article reviews the meaning of and literature around empowerment, which relate to the democratic purpose of schooling. The conception of empowerment that is presented is developed from Foucault’s work on power and knowledge. After this discussion, the article provides recommendations that aim to improve teaching practice in this area. These recommendations emerged from the teaching of an integrated teacher education course and include strategies such as inquiry, relationship - and community-building, problem or issue scenarios, and discussions. Comments from the student teachers who took the education course are included. The article demonstrates how empowering students does not disempower teachers, as teachers may fear.